Abuja Bomb Blast: Death Toll Rises To 19

Labour Day car bombing at the bus station in Nyanya, on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital of Abuja killed at least i9 people and injured no fewer than 80 people.

Police Superintendent Frank Mba told reporters Friday the toll is up to 19 dead with as many wounded being treated in the hospitals. Six cars were burned up in the blast, he said. But an official of the National Emergency Management agency, put the death toll at 18.

Witnesses said a car laden with explosives drove close to the checkpoint and a man jumped out and ran as it blew up. A deafening explosion was followed by smaller ones as other cars caught fire and fuel tanks exploded, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears for their safety.

The attacks are a major embarrassment that undermine government and military assurances that the Islamic extremists of Boko Haram had been contained in a northeastern corner of the country.

Two unexploded IEDs were found at the scene, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters. Islamic militants in Nigeria often time plant secondary explosions to target rescuers and others drawn to a bombing.

While there was no immediate claim for Thursday’s bombing, it bears all the hallmarks of Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is sinful.”

blood stains in a car at the scene of the Nyanya blast on Thursday

The explosion which occurred at about 8 p.m rocked the crowded Nyanya bus terminal, 50 metres from the site of an April 14 bombing that killed at least 75 people.

The April attack was the deadliest ever in Nigeria’s capital and raised security concerns about a World Economic Forum summit set for Abuja next week.

The summit, which includes a visit from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, is almost certain to go ahead, but the latest unrest will pile further pressure on Nigeria’s security services who have struggled to contain Boko Haram violence.

“The update we have is 18 dead and a total of 80 injured,” said Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

A woman reacts at the scene: anger mixed with anguish

NEMA spokesman Muhammad Sani Sidi has said that victims were being treated at several Abuja area hospitals and complete casualty figures were still being gathered.

Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau, declared a global terrorist by the United States, said his group carried out the April 14 bombing in a video message obtained by AFP.

Much of Boko Haram’s recent violence has targeted the remote northeast, the group’s historic stronghold, where more than 1,500 people have been killed already this year.

A second attack in three weeks just a few kilometres from the seat of government highlighted the serious threat the Islamists pose to Africa’s most populous country and largest economy.

President Goodluck Jonathan has faced intense pressure over the unrest, which has continued unchecked despite a massive year-long military offensive in the northeast aimed at crushing Boko Haram’s uprising.

The Nyanya station was completely inaccessible after Thursday’s blast, with the one access road blocked and cars backed up for several kilometres.

Ezekiel, who said he lives near Nyanya and heard the bomb go off, described the road leading to the station as “jam packed”, late Thursday adding that ambulances and rescue workers had struggled to reach the area.

Emergency work was further complicated by darkness at the station, which was very poorly lit after sundown.

Access had improved early Friday, Ezekiel told AFP, explaining that security services were still restricting entry to the site but that authorised vehicles were moving in and out freely.

The bombing came amid mounting public outrage after one of Boko Haram’s most shocking attacks, the mass kidnapping of 234 girls from their school in the northeast.

Officials and locals have offered contradictory figures for the number of girls taken, but the school’s principal has said that 187 are still being held hostage.

Hundreds of people marched on parliament on Wednesday to demand that government and the military do more to rescue those still being held.

Boko Haram, fighting for an Islamic state, north of Nigeria, has attacked schools, churches, mosques and various symbols of authority in an insurgency that has killed thousands since 2009.

May 02, 2014