General

Suicide bombing kills at least 16 at UN office in Nigeria

Bomber drove car through two gates before detonating explosives

At least 16 people have been killed in a brazen car bombing at a United Nations building in the capital of Nigeria. A suicide bomber reportedly drove a sedan laden with explosives through two separate gates before detonating near the centre of the complex. “I saw scattered bodies,” said Michael Ofilaje, a UNICEF worker speaking with the Associated Press. “Many people are dead.” The UN building houses offices for the UN Development Program, UNICEF and the UN Population Fund. There are about 400 employees who work there. It is the latest incident in a series of recent violent episodes in Africa’s most populous country, as tensions rise between the largely Christian south and the Muslim north. Boko Haram, a radical Islamist militant group from northeastern Nigeria, has conducted several attacks and assassinations in recent months. Another militant sect has sprung up in the Niger Delta to the south. It has also carried out bombings and attacks in Ajuba, the capital city. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing of the UN Building.

The Globe and Mail

 

 

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