BREAKING NEWS: Bomb explosion near barracks in Abuja – 11 killed

Posted by admin Abuja (FCT), Breaking News, Headlines, State News Friday, December 31st, 2010

At least 11 people have been killed in an explosion in a market near a barracks in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, military sources have told the BBC.

Witnesses say they saw injured people being carried away after the blast.

The explosion happened in the Mammy market, where people had gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve, reports say.

Senior military officials have been reported as saying a bomb had gone off at the market, near the Sani Abacha barracks, but this is not confirmed.

The area has been sealed off.

The Mammy market is a well known haunt where military officers and civilians gather to eat and drink beer.

“The bomb exploded where people were eating and drinking,” the AFP news agency quotes Abuja civil defence corps chief Rabi Saidu as saying.

Nigeria has a recent history of bomb attacks in the capital and other cities:

On Thursday, two blasts disrupted a political rally in the southern city of Yenagoa, wounding several people
Bomb attacks in the northern city of Jos, a flash-point between Nigerian Christians and Muslims, left 38 people over Christmas
In October, at least eight people were killed in explosions in Abuja as the country celebrated 50 years since independence from the UK

The barracks, named after Nigeria’s late military dictator, is located in Asokoro district, home to the presidential palace and said to be the city’s most secure area.

Officially renamed the Mogadishu Cantonment, the barracks is still known to many by its old name.

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