Deadly blasts rock Nigeria’s capital
Analyst predicts an increase in attacks in lead up to election as militant group, Boko Haram, suspected of explosions
Dozens were killed and more than 100 injured in explosions at a crowded bus station in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Monday, the latest strike in a series of escalating attacks as the country battles with an Islamist militant group.
The bomb targeted the morning rush hour and reports described a harrowing scene with crews scrambling to help passengers trapped on burning buses.
“These are the remains of my friend,” one man who identified himself as John told Reuters as he held up a bloodied shirt. “His travel ticket with his name on (it) was in the shirt pocket.”
Early estimates state that 71 people were killed and at least120 injured by the bombing and subsequent explosions.
“Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms this cowardly terrorist attack,” Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird wrote in a statement Monday. “Such brutal acts of terror cannot be allowed to go unpunished.”
Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, suspicion fell to Boko Haram, whose leaders had vowed to hit the capital.
In recent months, Boko Haram has targeted schools and churches in the country’s northeast, killing nearly 1,500 people since January. At least 58 students were killed in February when militants set fire to a locked dormitory in northern Nigeria, then shot or slit the throats of those who tried to escape.
Last May, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency for the northeast, where Boko Haram is most popular — the group’s base is in Borno state along the border with Cameroon. But attacks in southern Nigeria have been rare. Jacob Zenn, a Jamestown Foundation analyst who was in the region earlier this year, says the group is likely to increase attacks in the runup to February’s national election. “Being influential in Abuja and the south will make Boko Haram even more of a factor in the country’s politics,” he said on Monday. “Whereas so far they have really only been a threat to northern Nigeria, and southern Nigerians have been able to look away.” Boko Haram last claimed responsibility for an Abuja attack in 2011 — a suicide bombing at the United Nations building that killed more than 20. But as Zenn wrote recently in Sentinel, the West Point counterterrorism publication, the 2011 attack may have been organized and funded by members of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which targets foreign institutions more often than Boko Haram. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with a population of170 million, roughly divided between a Muslim north and a Christian south. Boko Haram translates loosely to “Western education is forbidden,” and while it is the common name of the group, the organization calls itself Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati Wal-Jihad, “People committed to the propagation of the Prophet’s teachings and jihad.” Established in 2003 by Islamic cleric Mohammed Yusuf, the group is fighting to create an Islamic state governed by Shariah law. Human rights groups have accused the government of fuelling the violence with unlawful crackdowns, and carrying out executions and forced “disappearances” in the name of fighting terror. The group’s popularity soared in 2009, following a massive crackdown by security forces, which reportedly killed 800 and led to Yusuf’s death in custody.