At least 71 killed, 124 injured in Nigeria blast

At least 71 people were killed and 124 others sustained injuries in the morning explosion which rocked a large motor park in Nigeria's capital city Abuja, Nigerian emergency authority and police said on Monday. Frank Mba, spokesperson of the Nigerian police, said the casualties figures were obtained from hospitals and other health facilities where injured people are currently receiving treatment. "Sixteen luxury buses were torched and scores of other vehicles were damaged," Mba told reporters at the place of the incident, as emergency workers continued to comb the area in search of victims. According to eyewitnesses, a suicide bomber drove a red-color station wagon into Nyanyan Motor Park, located on the outskirts of Abuja, and detonated the bombs which directly hit some luxury buses and other vehicles in the garage. Earlier, Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency said the blast affected mostly workers and commuters around the busses. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials blamed the explosion on Boko Haram, a sect which has proved to be a major security threat in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Nigeria, with a population of approximately 170 million, is facing major security challenges which are crippling economic activities in some states. The northern part of the country is plagued by violence, including attacks by the Boko Haram sect. The southern part is said to be a hub of criminal activities including oil theft or bunkering, kidnap and armed robbery attacks. Communal clashes often paralyze commercial activities in the central state of Plateau, which shares borders with many northern states, whereas pockets of violence in the north central state of Benue are mostly attributed to herdsmen.