Terrorists Kills 71 people, 124 Injured at bus station in Nigeria

People gather at the site of a blast at the Nyanya Motor Park, in Abuja, Nigeria, on Monday.

At least 71 people were killed when a parked vehicle exploded at a bus station in central Nigeria on Monday morning, Nigerian officials said.

 

Another 124 people were injured in the explosion on the outskirts of Abuja, national police spokesman Frank Mba said. The Nyanya Motor Park bus station was crowded with early morning commuters.
 "We're still treating people with injuries and collecting data," said Ishaya Isah Chonoko, zone coordinator at the National Emergency Management Agency in Abuja.

 

Information about what caused the blast, which happened at about 6:45 a.m., wasn't immediately available. Charles Otegbade, the emergency management agency's search and rescue chief, said that the blast came from a vehicle that was parked at the station.

 

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan visited the site of the blasts. Though no one had put the blame on any group, he spoke of overcoming Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group that has waged a campaign of violence mostly in northeastern Nigeria, trying to impose its strict version of Islamic law there.

 

"The issue of Boko Haram is quite an ugly history within this period of our own development ... but we will get over it," he said. "... The issue of Boko Haram is temporary."

 

CNN