At least 21 dead after massive bomb blast tears through Nigerian mall as people prepared to watch their soccer team play in World Cup leaving body parts scattered and blood everywhere
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
Devastating: An explosion has killed at least 21
people in a shopping mall in the Nigerian capital Abuja an hour before
the national football team started playing in Brazil
Wounded: At least 17 more people were injured in
the blast, including this man being helped to safety. The government
has said it will check the activities of 'insurgents'
Brutal: Rescue workers carry the remains of a
person in a body bag after the bomb in the crowded mall. Witnesses
reported seeing shoppers covered in blood
Rescue: Police Superintendent Frank Mba said 17
people were wounded and 21 bodies were recovered, with rescue work still
ongoing at the shopping mall in the capital
Devastation: A Nigerian soldier at the scene of
the explosion which killed 21 people and wounded 17 more in the capital
Abuja. Violence is becoming more frequent
The blast is the latest in a series of violent
attacks blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram, who have a
stronghold in the northeast of the country
Smoke: Several cars were left burnt-out by the
bomb, which unconfirmed reports suggested could have been dropped off
next to the mall by motorbike
No one has yet claimed responsibility, but the attack bears hallmarks of Boko Haram extremism.
One local man, Shuaibu Baba, was in a shop making photocopies when the blast hit, killing his taxi driver who was waiting for him outside.
'I lost a driver. And why? Because I came to photocopy for 10 naira ($0.06) a page,' he said. 'I begged him to take me here and this is the end.'
Officials said the explosion hit while the district was at its busiest, packed with shoppers and rush-hour commuters.
'I heard a loud blast, it shattered the windows of the shop. We ran out. A lot of people ran too, some with bloodstains,' said Gimbya Jafaru, who was shopping nearby.
Police Superintendent Frank Mba said 17 people were wounded and 21 bodies were recovered.
He also said one suspect has been arrested and investigations have already started. Another suspect was killed by soldiers as he tried to escape on a motorcycle, the spokesman for Nigeria's National Information Centre said.
The blast came as Nigerians were preparing to watch their country's Super Eagles come up against Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil.
Crowded: The shopping centre was reportedly
teeming with people at the time of the explosion this afternoon. 'I
heard the explosion and (felt) the building shaking,' said Shuaibu Baba,
who had a narrow escape. He said he rushed downstairs to find that the
driver who had dropped him a few minutes earlier was dead
Burnt-out: Smoke rises from vehicles after the
bomb exploded in an upmarket district of Abuja. Several cars around the
shopping mall caught fire after the blast
Rescue work: The blast came as Nigerians were
preparing to watch their country's Super Eagles come up against
Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil
A government spokesman said 'every step is being
taken to check the activities of insurgents in the country' and advised
Nigerians to remain vigilant of strangers
Many shops at the mall have TV screens, but it was unclear if the explosion was timed to coincide with the match.
One witness said he thought the bomb was dropped at the entrance to the mall in the Wuse 11 suburb by a motorcyclist, but Mba said it was too early to say.
Chiamaka Oham, who was near the site of the blast, told the BBC: 'We heard a really loud noise and the building shook, and people started screaming and running out.
'We saw the smoke and people covered in blood. It was just chaos.'
The
group stage match in Porto Alegre, Brazil, went ahead between Argentina
and Nigeria, with Nigeria losing 3-2 but still qualifying for the
tournament's knockout stages.
Argentine
star Lionel Messi scored twice during a tense match which was clinched
in the 50th minute. But the game was more of a lap of honour for both
Group F teams, as they were already guaranteed a place in the knockout
stages after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iran.
Around
1,000 Nigerians made the trip to Brazil's southern city of Porto
Alegre, and some wore t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan 'Soccer
against Boko Haram.'
One
supporter, Kenneth Okechu-Kwu Onfemere, said: 'We need God's
intervention to stop this from happening. I don't think these people are
humans. They are hiding behind masks.
'Football can bring love, happiness and unity. It can make us forget our problems.'
Emergency: Workers carry a man who was injured
into the Maitama general hospital. The explosion was at Emab Plaza, near
the Banex Plaza shopping district
Guard: Nigerian soldiers lined the streets as
chaos gripped the capital in the wake of the attack. Many are pointing
the finger at the militant group Boko Haram
Constant threat: Abuja is in the centre of
Nigeria and Boko Haram militants have spread their attacks to the
capital from their stronghold in the north east
The blast is the latest in a series of violent attacks blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram, who have a stronghold in the northeast of the country.
The bomb would be Abuja's third in three months and comes as the Nigerian government and military face rising public anger over their inability to protect citizens from daily gun and bomb attacks across Africa's most populous country.
Witnesses said the blast shattered windows, sent smoke billowing into the air and carved out a large crater.
Boko Haram attracted international condemnation for the April mass abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls, and is blamed for this week's abductions of another 91 people — 31 boys and 60 girls and women with toddlers as young as three.
Abuja residents were urged 'to remain calm and go about their normal business' by government spokesman Mike Omeri, who issued a statement saying that security agencies are 'handling the situation.'
He said that 'every step is being taken by the government to check the activities of insurgents in the country' and advised Nigerians to remain vigilant and conscious of movement of unidentified people.
Tragedy: People could do little but watch as a
plume of thick black smoke rose into the air, which could be seen a mile
away from the site of the explosion
Helped: People crowd around an injured woman
outside the shopping mall following the blast. Police had already
detained a suspect in the hours following the explosion
Abuja residents were urged 'to remain calm and
go about their normal business' by government spokesman Mike Omeri, who
issued a statement after the bomb
Horror: Surrounded by blood stains on the floor,
those injured in the bomb blast waited for treatment at the Maitama
general hospital in Abuja, a relatively wealthy city
Cordon: The area around the popular shopping
centre - hit at its busiest time of the day at around 4pm - was sealed
off as rescue workers retrieved the dead
Demolished: One car's bumper became detached and
lay in the road as rescue workers surveyed the damage from the blast,
widely blamed on militants
Abuja is in the centre of Nigeria and the militants have spread their attacks to the capital. Two separate explosions in Abuja in April killed more than 120 people and wounded about 200 at a busy bus station. Both were claimed by Boko Haram, which threatened further attacks.
A bomb at a medical college in northern Kano killed at least eight people on Monday, and last week, at least 14 died in a bomb blast at a World Cup viewing site in Damaturu, a state capital in the northeast.
In May, twin car bombs in the central city of Jos left more than 130 people dead; and a car bomb at a bus station killed 24 people in the Christian quarter of Kano, a Muslim city.
Nigeria's military and government claim to be winning the war in the five-year-old insurgency against the militants.
But the tempo and deadliness of attacks has increased this year, killing more than 2,000 people so far compared to an estimated 3,600 killed over the past four years.
Boko Haram wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, a West African nation whose 170million people are almost equally divided between Muslims who are dominant in the north and Christians in the south.
Timing: The bomb was an hour before Nigeria's
football team played in the World Cup, losing 3-2 but still qualifying
for the knockout round for the first time since 1996
Celebration: Unaware of the carnage, Nigeria
supporters were jubilant in the country's biggest city Lagos as they
watched their nation qualify on big screens
Two worlds: These fans watched the match on
screens in Lagos, 400 miles from the blast, celebrating Nigeria's first
progression beyond the group stage since 1998
Comments
Post a Comment