State TV reports that bomb attack in Abuja has left 30 dead, but police spokesmen cites four dead and 13 injured
A bomb exploded at a beer garden this evening at a Nigerian army barracks where revellers had gathered to celebrate New Year's Eve, witnesses said, and state-run television reported that 30 people died, though police immediately disputed that.
A local police spokesman said the blast occurred at about 7:30pm in Abuja, the capital of Africa's most populous nation.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion in this oil-rich nation where citizens remain uneasy after bombings at other locations had killed dozens of people several days earlier.
"It's unfortunate that some people planted a bomb where people are relaxing because of the new year," air marshal Oluseyi Petirin told journalists. "Nobody has been able to give accurate figures (of casualties), but we have rescued some people." An anchor on the state-run Nigerian Television Authority gave a death toll of 30 to viewers this evening. The channel did not give an estimate on the number of injured.
Local police spokesman Jimoh Moshood immediately disputed the figure, saying only four people had died and 13 were wounded. Death tolls remain contentious in Nigeria, as politicians often inflate or shrink tolls to suit their aspirations.
The blasts come days after a similar attack struck a nation that remains uneasily divided between Christians and Muslims. On Christmas Eve, three bombs exploded in the central Nigerian city of Jos, killing dozens of people. That area has seen more than 500 die in religious and ethnic violence last year.
Members of a radical Muslim sect attacked two churches in the northern city of Maiduguri the same night, killing at least six people.
The sect, known locally as Boko Haram, later claimed responsibility for both attacks in an internet message. Police say they are still investigating those attacks.
Nigeria, an OPEC-member nation, remains a vital supplier of easily refined crude oil to the US. Unrest in the West African nation has affected oil prices in the past. Beyond that, western diplomats are concerned that ethnic, religious and political violence could undermine the nation of 150 million people just as it adjusts to democracy after years of military dictatorships and coups.
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