Dozens in Nigeria Killed After Explosion Rips Through Crowded Bus Station

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A man is directed by rescue workers as they collect the bodies of victims at the site of a blast at the Nyanya Motor Park, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) from the center of Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, April 14, 2014.

Image: Gbemiga Olamikan/Associated Press

By Brian Ries2014-04-14 18:07:15 UTC

More than 70 people were killed and 124 were wounded on Monday when an explosion tore through a crowded bus station near Nigeria's capital city of Abuja.

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Hundreds of commuters had gathered at the Nyanya Motor Park during the morning rush hour, about 10 miles from the center of Abuja, when the blast went off.

Eyewitnesses told BBC News there were dead bodies scattered around the area. Others said they saw rescue workers gathering body parts. "I was waiting to get on a bus when I heard a deafening explosion then smoke," one eyewitness told Reuters. "People were running around in panic."

Hospitals in the area are calling for blood donations. Officials believe the explosion came from a vehicle at about 6:45 a.m., the New York Daily News reports, citing the country's National Emergency Management Agency. “It affected quite a number of people because it was still very early in the morning and there was a lot of traffic,” Air Commodore Charles Otegbade said.

The blast created a large hole in the ground and destroyed dozens of vehicles. Secondary explosions were caused by ignited gas tanks of nearby cars and busses.

Onlookers inspect damaged buses following an explosion at a bus park in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, April. 14, 2014

Image: Gbemiga Olamikan/Associated Press

Suspicion for the attack immediately fell on Boko Haram, an Islamist militant group that is active in the region, after Goodluck Jonathan, the country's president, visited the scene of the attack and vowed that the country would defeat the insurgency.

“The issue of Boko Haram is temporary," he said. “We promise that we will get over it.”

The group, whose name means "Western education is sinful," has been behind a number of attacks in the region in recent years.

Nearly 30 boys were killed as they slept in school dormitories in February, when gunmen associated with Boko Haram stormed the grounds. As many as 50 may have been killed in a similar attack last September. And 50 were killed in a string of church bombings in 2012.

The group bombed Abuja's United Nations building in 2011, too.

The human rights group Amnesty International believes more than 1,500 deaths in northeast Nigeria can be blamed on Boko Haram.

“The escalation of violence in north-eastern Nigeria in 2014 has developed into a situation of non-international armed conflict in which all parties are violating international humanitarian law. We urge the international community to ensure prompt, independent investigations into acts that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Netsanet Belay, Research and Advocacy Director for Africa at Amnesty International.

“More than 1,500 deaths in three months indicate an alarming deterioration in the situation. The international community cannot continue to look the other way in the face of extrajudicial executions, attacks on civilians and other crimes under international law being committed on a mass scale. Civilians are paying a heavy price as the cycle of violations and reprisals gather momentum.”

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Topics: nigeria, terrorism, US & World, World