Suicide Bomber Kills 18 in Attack on United Nations Headquarters in Nigeria

Posted on Aug 26, 2011

Flickr / ssoosay (CC-BY)

Eighteen people were killed and dozens more injured when a suicide bomber drove his car into the U.N. headquarters in the Nigerian capital Friday.

An Islamic extremist group—Boko Haram—made a phone call to the BBC to claim responsibility for the blast.

The attack was the first on the international agency by militants in Nigeria. —BF

The Los Angeles Times:

Past attacks by Boko Haram, a group that models itself on the Afghan Taliban, have been launched on national government targets, mainly in the north. The largest previous bombing, of the police headquarters in Abuja in June, killed six.

Security analysts fear the group may be getting external support – and may have developed links with Al Qaeda.

Read more

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