An explosion blamed on Islamic extremists rocked a shopping mall in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, and police said 21 people were killed.
The blast came as Nigerians were preparing to watch their country play 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, which started an hour later.
Witnesses said body parts were scattered around Emab Plaza, in an upscale suburb of Abuja. One witness said he thought the bomb was dropped at the entrance to the mall by a motorcyclist. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Soldiers shot and killed one suspect as he tried to escape and police detained a second suspect, government spokesman Mike Omeri said.
Billows of black smoke could be seen from a mile away, and police said 17 vehicles were burned in the blast.
“I heard the explosion and (felt) the building shaking,” said Shuaibu Baba. He said he rushed downstairs to find that the driver who had dropped him a few minutes earlier was dead. “I asked the driver to come with me, and he said no, he would wait for me in the car.”
Police Superintendent Frank Mba said 17 people were wounded and 21 bodies were recovered.
Omeri urged people to be calm and said the government was doing everything possible “to check the activities of insurgents.”
It is the latest in a series of violent attacks blamed on Islamic extremists. Nigerian security forces appear incapable of curtailing the near-daily attacks concentrated in the northeast, where Boko Haram extremists have their stronghold.
Boko Haram has 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 3.
On Tuesday night, extremists in the northeast attacked a military checkpoint and killed at least 21 soldiers and five civilians, witnesses and a hospital worker said Wednesday.
A soldier who escaped said the militants also abducted several of his colleagues in the attack near Damboa village, 53 miles from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state.
The extremists attacked in a convoy of more than 30 trucks armed with anti-aircraft guns and rocket launchers and powerful submachine guns while the soldiers had only AK-47 assault rifles, said the soldier, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
He said he saw at least 16 of his colleagues gunned down before he ran away. A worker at Maiduguri’s main hospital said he counted the corpses of 21 soldiers brought to the morgue.
A spokesman for vigilante groups fighting Boko Haram, Muhammed Gava, said the extremists also killed five elderly men in the village that has been deserted by most inhabitants.
Abuja is in the center 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 has threatened further attacks.
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