3rd LD Roundup: Explosion hits southern Nigerian state on election day

An explosion rocked a polling unit in Nigeria's southeastern state of Enugu on Saturday, hours before the crucial presidential and national assembly elections commenced in the West African country, local police said.

Police chief in charge of the state Dan Bature said investigations have commenced.

He urged voters to come out and vote, assuring them that their safety was guaranteed.

"Whatever is their motive? We don't know, whoever is involved we don't know yet," he added.

"But we can assure you that nobody was injured - everybody is safe and voting will go on. I assure all the voters that they are safe," Bature told reporters.

A source in the state told Xinhua that the incident occurred at WTC Primary School Polling Unit 1 in New Layout, where voting is billed to take place in the presidential and national assembly polls.

He said the bombs, believed to be improvised explosives devices, were concealed in a vehicle which was believed to have been parked near the polling center overnight.

The first explosion, which is believed to have gone off prematurely, attracted security agents, who quickly cordoned off the area.

Three other unexploded bombs were discovered in the vicinity, and were subsequently defused by the police anti-bomb unit.

No casualty was recorded, and no suspect has been arrested in connection with the incident, he added.

Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps in the state, Steven Lar, told reporters that no death casualty was recorded in the incident, although there were traces of blood indicating some injuries were sustained.

The official, however, did not specify the number of injured persons.

Despite the incident, accreditation of voters was done at the polling unit amid tight security.

Heavy presence of security has been reported in most polling centers across Nigeria as more than 56 million eligible voters went there to cast their ballots to elect a new president.

Fourteen candidates are competing in the presidential election, but it is most likely to be a tight race between incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan, from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, and opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who is a former military leader.

The two contested in the 2011 general elections. In this year's election, a neck-and-neck race is expected as both possess matchable popularity. Endi