18 killed in car bomb attack in Nigeria

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the building of the UN Headquarters in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday, killing at least 18 people, including two women and a foreigner.

A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into the building of the UN Headquarters in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday, killing at least 18 people, including two women and a foreigner.

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The blast destroyed a huge portion of the five-storey building that houses 400 employees of the UN.

Police said 18 people died in the blast while eight others were injured. Witnesses said the blast happened when a car rammed into the front of the building after crashing through two security barriers. The building is the UN’s main office in Nigeria, where 26 humanitarian and development agencies are based.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attack, saying “this was an assault on those who devote their lives to helping others.”

“We condemn this terrible act utterly,” he said, adding the UN did not have exact casualty figures “but they are likely to be considerable.”