Bomb blast in Nigerian capital kills at least 21

At least 21 people were killed and 17 injured when an explosion tore through a crowded shopping district in the Nigerian capital Abuja during rush hour today, police said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast. Two witnesses at the scene said it shattered the glass of nearby stores and sent plumes of smoke billowing into the air.

The explosion rocked an area near the popular Banex Plaza shopping centre in the upscale Wuse 2 district, they said. 

“After a preliminary investigation, we can confirm that 21 people were killed and 17 injured,” police spokesman Frank Mba told reporters at the scene of the explosion.

“I heard a loud blast, it shattered the windows of the shop. We ran out. A lot of people ran too, some with blood stains,” said Gimbya Jafaru, who was shopping nearby.

“This thing happened at a peak period,” a source in the emergency services said, estimating that some 40 cars had been badly damaged.

Soon after the blast, emergency services were on the scene and the police and army had blocked off the surrounding area.

A haze of smoke lingered over the area as the bomb squad combed the area for explosives.

A recent series of gun and bomb attacks in Nigeria are widely suspected to be the work of Islamist militant group Boko Haram. The insurgents, who are trying to carve out an Islamist state in the north, have been increasingly moving beyond their traditional base in rural northeast Nigeria.

Abuja has been a target for bomb attacks in recent months. A suspected car bomb in May killed at least 15 and an attack on a bus station a month earlier killed at least 75.