An explosion at a brothel in Bauchi, north-east Nigeria, has killed 10 people and wounded 14 others, according to police.

"The entire building has been cordoned off and the scene secured. No arrest has been made but an investigation has commenced to ascertain the cause," said Bauchi state police spokesman Haruna Mohammed.

Mohammed added that 14 people were rushed to hospital following the blast at the People's Hotel brothel in the Bayangari area of the city.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast but Boko Haram has targeted spots in northern Nigerian cities considered "un-Islamic" such as brothels and bars.

Bauchi straddles Nigeria's "Middle Belt" where the Christian south and Muslim north collide. The region has seen fewer attacks than Boko Haram's north-eastern heartland but blasts have previously struck the city of Jos.

Last month, dozens were killed in an explosion at a packed open-air venue in the city while a twin car bomb attack killed at least 130 people at the city's busy marketplace.

The group, which wants to create an Islamic caliphate within Nigeria, kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April in the village of Chibok, bringing global attention to the west African nation's fight against terrorism.

Three northern states - Borno, Yobe and Adamawa - have been under a state of emergency since May last year.