An explosion at a crowded market in Nigeria’s capital Abuja killed at least four people and injured more than a dozen more during New Year’s Eve celebrations late on Friday, police said.
President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the blast on an Islamist group that claimed responsibility for bombings on Christmas Eve in central Nigeria that killed at least 80 people, and urged the security forces to track down those responsible.
The explosion occurred at Mami market, a busy area where people congregate to socialise on the edge of the Sani Abacha army barracks but not in its militarised area.
Boko Haram, a radical sect which wants Islamic law throughout Nigeria, said it was behind the bombings in Jos on December 24, which also wounded more than 100.
The police say the group is behind a series of shootings and blasts in northern Nigeria in the past week that come just four months before a presidential election in Nigeria that could heighten ethnic and religious rivalries in the oil exporter.
“There are four dead and at least 13 injured,” police spokesperson Moshood Jimoh said.
“The scene has been cordoned off by security agents and an investigation has commenced. Security has been tightened around the whole city.”
A worker at the military medical centre in the barracks said at least 11 people had been killed and many more casualties were being taken to other hospitals in Abuja.
“Sixteen victims were brought into the hospital, four were dead but the other 12 are in a stable condition,” Udofia Enefion, director general at Asokoro Hospital, said.
One witness said he was approaching the market to join New Year’s Eve celebrations when he heard the blast.
“People ran in different directions. There were scores of bodies — dead and wounded. They used army trucks to pack them away,” Eric, a regular user of the market said.
President Jonathan said in a statement: “Tonight, evil people determined to turn the joys of fellow Nigerians to ashes detonated a bomb at a barracks market in the federal capital city.
“Basking in their nefarious success in Jos on Christmas Eve, they have once again knifed at the heartstrings of a nation decked out in gaiety, celebrating New Year’s Eve.”
Nigeria was shaken by car bomb attacks in Abuja in October, which were claimed by a rebel group in the oil-producing Niger Delta, where there has also been a resurgence in violence. – Reuters