Video - Bomb blast in the capital Abuja, Nigeria - At least 21 confirmed dead

An explosion has struck a busy shopping district in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killing at least 21 people.

The explosion was in the capital's Wuse district, near the popular Banex plaza shopping complex, and could be heard from miles away.

It is not yet clear what was behind the explosion, however police say they are securing a "crime scene".

Islamist militant group Boko Haram has bombed targets across northern Nigeria in recent years.

"After a preliminary investigation we can confirm that 21 people were killed and 17 injured," police spokesman Frank Mba told reporters.

'Covered in blood'

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."

Eyewitnesses at the scene described seeing body parts scattered across the area.

The area was packed with shoppers at the time of the blast, the BBC's Hausa service editor Mansur Liman reports.

Many cars outside the shopping complex were burnt out and many windows were shattered, he adds.

One man told the BBC his driver was killed in the blast: "I was in the complex when I saw that the ground was shaking. I saw my driver dead and a lot of casualties."

Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency, told AFP news agency: "You can see smoke billowing from the sky. It's a very crowded place."

Police spokesman Frank Mba said he could not provide details of the nature or extent of the damage.

"Our most important assignment now is to secure lives, secure the crime scene and actually carry out preliminary investigations," he added.

Boko Haram has staged previous attacks in Abuja, but most of its targets have been in the north-east of the country.

In April, more than 70 people were killed in a bomb blast at a bus stop on the outskirts of the capital in an attack claimed by Boko Haram.

The group also said it was behind a car bomb attack near a bus station in the suburbs in May, which killed at least 19 people and injured 60 others.

The group also carried out a deadly car bomb attack on the United Nations building in the Nigerian capital in 2011.

It has become a source of growing international concern since the recent abduction of more than 200 girls from a school in northern Nigeria.

BBC

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Nigeria progresses to 2nd stage of the FIFA 2014 World Cup

The World Cup Group F final between Argentina and Nigeria finishes with Argentina winning 3-2.  The duel between the much-storied Lionel Messi and the relatively little-ballyhooed Vincent Enyeama created an immensely captivating match.

The World Cup exploits of Messi, FC Barcelona’s wunderkind, have been much publicized. His second-half goals in both of Argentina’s previous wins have been praised widely, especially his injury-time strike to beat Iran 1-0 on Saturday.

But with Nigeria scoring one goal in its two previous matches, Enyeama likewise has been carrying the Super Eagles, the only team yet to concede a goal at the World Cup.

The 31-year-old goalkeeper, who plays for Lille in France, reportedly is drawing interest from Arsenal and Sunderland.

Neither Messi nor Argentina needs to duel with Nigeria. They’ve already clinched their place in the last 16 with six points, and need merely a draw to finish atop the group. That would get Argentina a second-round match against the runner-up from Group E, the France-Ecuador-Switzerland-Honduras group.

Nigeria, however, is in a precarious situation. With four points, it sits three ahead of Iran, which plays pointless and eliminated Bosnia-Herzegovina in a simultaneous match.

A draw would get it through without having to worry about the Bosnia-Iran result. But a Nigeria loss and an Iran win could send the “Princes of Persia” through. It will all depend on goal difference, or possibly goals scored. Nigeria has a plus-1 goal difference, Iran a minus-1.

Nigeria has scored once, Iran not at all. A 1-0 victory by Iran and a 1-0 loss by Nigeria would leave them equal – and require the drawing of lots. (The only other tie-breaking criteria after goals scored have to do with head-to-head, and Iran and Nigeria drew 0-0.)

A 2-1 win by Iran combined with a 1-0 loss by Nigeria would send the Iranians through. But a 1-0 win by Iran joined with a 2-1 loss by Nigeria favors the Africans. Of course, Iran has won only one game in 11 tries at the World Cup, in 1998 against the United States.

And for a really interesting scenario, consider this: If Iran prevails and finishes second in Group F, and the United States beats Germany to win Group G, the teams would be one step away (i.e. the quarterfinals) from a rematch of “The Mother of all Games.”

Wall Street Journal

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In Northern Nigeria - man sent to mental institute for being atheist

A Nigerian man has been sent to a mental institute in Kano state after he declared that he did not believe in God, according to a humanist charity.

Mubarak Bala, 29, is said to have been forcibly medicated by his Muslim relatives, despite being given a clean bill of health by a doctor.

The International Humanist and Ethical Union say a Lagos-based group has asked a lawyer to take up his case.

Kano is a mainly Muslim state and adopted Sharia (Islamic law) in 2000.

The IHEU says that when Mr Bala told relatives he did not believe in God, they asked a doctor if he was mentally ill.

Despite being told that he was not unwell, Mr Bala's family then went to a second doctor, who declared that his atheism was a side-effect of suffering a personality change, the group says.

Mr Bala, a chemical engineering graduate, was forcibly committed to a mental institution, but was able to contact activists using a smuggled phone.

IHEU spokesman Bob Churchill said the group was concerned about his "deteriorating condition" and called for his "swift release".

BBC

Boko Haram kidnap 60 more girls and 31 boys

Islamic extremists have abducted 60 more girls and women and 31 boys from villages in northeast Nigeria, witnesses said Tuesday.

Security forces denied the kidnappings. Nigeria’s government and military have attracted widespread criticism for their slow response to the abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped April 15.

There was no way to safely and independently confirm the report from Kummabza, 150 kilometres (95 miles) from Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and headquarters of a military state of emergency that has failed to curtail near-daily attacks by Boko Haram fighters.

Kummabza resident Aji Khalil said Tuesday the abductions took place Saturday in an attack in which four villagers were killed. Khalil is a member of one of the vigilante groups that have had some success in repelling Boko Haram attacks with primitive weapons.

A senior local councillor from the village’s Damboa local government told The Associated Press that abductions had occurred but requested anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to reporters. He said elderly survivors of the attack had walked some 25 kilometres (15 miles) to the relative safety of other villages.

The Damboa council secretary, Modu Mustapha, said he could not confirm or deny the abductions and directed a reporter to the council chairman, Alamin Mohammed, who did not answer phone calls or respond to text messages.

Boko Haram has been demanding the release of detained members in exchange for its hostages but President Goodluck Jonathan has said he will not consider a swap.

A strategy to rescue the girls appears to have reached an impasse. Nigeria’s military has said it knows where they are but fears their abductors would kill them if any military action is taken.

Politics have bedeviled the issue, with many distracted by upcoming presidential elections in February 2015. The first lady, Patience Jonathan, and some other supporters have claimed the reports of the April abductions of the schoolgirls were fabricated to discredit her husband’s administration.

Last week, a presidential committee investigating the kidnappings stressed that they did in fact happen and clarified the number of students who have been kidnapped. It said there were 395 students at the school, 119 escaped during the siege of the school, another 57 escaped in the first couple of days of their abduction, leaving 219 unaccounted for.

This year, the Boko Haram insurgents have embarked on a two-pronged strategy — bombing in cities and a scorched-earth policy in rural areas where they are devastating villages. Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, the central city of Jos and the northeastern state capital of Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, all have been bombed.

On Monday, an explosion at a medical college in the northern city of Kano killed at least eight people and wounded 12, police said. It was the third bomb blast in four months in Kano, Nigeria’s second city.

Also on Saturday, the same day as the latest abductions, scores of Boko Haram fighters attacked four other villages, near Chibok town from which the girls were kidnapped. Witnesses said at least 33 villagers were killed as well as six vigilantes and about two dozen Boko Haram fighters.

AP

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