The attack was in the Wunti area of Bauchi state, Yushua Shuaib, a NEMA spokesman said. Earlier he said there were a number of dead and wounded, but later said only the bomber died.

"Three injured victims were rushed to the hospital for medical attention," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The Islamist sect Boko Haram has claimed several attacks on churches and other Christian gatherings this year.

Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people since 2009 in attacks on security forces, government offices and churches, and has been designated a terrorist group by the United States.

The sect, which says it wants to revive an ancient Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, has become the number one security threat in Africa's top oil producer.

A military crackdown appears to have weakened Boko Haram, whose militants have not reproduced the kind of large-scale, coordinated attacks they carried out earlier this year. At least 186 people died in attacks across the city of Kano in January.

But almost daily shootings and bombings blamed on the Islamists have continued.

The militants have made no public pronouncements since security forces said they killed their spokesman Abu Qaqa in a gunbattle in Kano last Sunday.