Deadly bomb attack in Abuja is blamed on Boko Haram

The Nigerian capital Abuja is still reeling from Monday morning’s rush hour bomb.

At least 71 people are said to have been killed in the blast, while some witnesses have claimed as many as 200 may have died.

Security experts suspect the device was inside a bus when it went off causing carnage among commuters.

Danladi Iya, a local chief of Nyanya was in the station when the bomb exploded:

“I was listening to the radio and suddenly heard a loud bang, I thought it was a fuel tanker that exploded but later realised it was a bomb. We all ran out in a panic,” he said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Johnathan, who later visited the scene, has accused Islamist insurgents Boko Haram of being responsible. They have staged previous attacks in Abuja, however, most have been in the north-east of the country.

Boko Haram, which in the local Hausa language of largely Muslim northern Nigeria means ‘Western education is sinful’, is loosely modeled on the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, and has forged ties with al Qaeda-linked militants in the Sahara.

The aim of the group is to carve an Islamic state out of Nigeria.

Amnesty International estimates around 1500 people have died in the conflict in the past year.