Bomb Blast Kills 21 People in Nigeria

 

An explosion in a Nigerian shopping mall has killed at least 21 people just an hour before the national football team played Argentina in the World Cup.


Witnesses said the blast left body parts scattered around the Emab Plaza in an upmarket district of Abuja, as billows of black smoke could be seen from a mile away.

It turned what should have been a national celebration into a national tragedy as Nigeria secured its place in the World Cup's knockout stages for the first time since 1998.

It came a week after 14 people were killed by a suicide bomb while watching the Brazil v Mexico match in Damaturu, Nigeria.

Nigeria football coach Stephen Keshi said after the bombing: 'How much of a victory is football going to give for those lives? What are they doing these guys? They did it the first game, and they now they did it again, it is sad.'

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.

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.'

 

 

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.