NO fewer than 10 people have been killed in a suspected suicide car bombing at the United Nations (UN) building in Abuja.
The powerful blast wrecked the bottom floor of the building, with dozens sustaining various degrees of injuries, some.

A UN official in Nigeria, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity, said the global body had received information last month that it could be targeted by the Islamist group, Boko Haram.
A car bombing at police headquarters in June in Abuja this year was also blamed on Boko Haram.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, told the BBC she had visited the building and seen “the shock on people’s faces”.
“This is not an attack on Nigeria but on the global community,” she said, adding that it was “An attack on the world.”

The affected building is the UN’s main office in Nigeria, where all its agencies are based, the unnamed UN official told the BBC.
The official said security had been increased at all UN offices in Nigeria following the intelligence warning of a possible attack.

There was a loud explosion and smoke billowed from the building following Friday’s powerful blast, which shattered all the glass in the building.
Reports said the ground floor of the building was badly damaged and emergency services were on towards removing dead bodies from the building while a number of wounded were rushed to hospitals.

One UN staff member said that people may still be trapped in the building, the AFP news agency reported.
“I saw scattered bodies,” Michael Ofilaje, a UNICEF worker at the building, said according to the Associated Press news agency (AP).

He said it felt like “the blast came from the basement and shook the building”.
Local hospitals are said to be overwhelmed with the number of injured and have appealed for blood donations.

Nobody has however, claimed responsibility for the attack which took place at about 11.00am local time (1000 GMT) in the diplomatic zone in the centre of the Nigerian capital city, close to the U.S. embassy.

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