April 2014 Abuja bombing

On 14 April 2014 at about 6:45am, two bombs exploded at a crowded bus station 8 km southwest of central Abuja, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring at least 200.  Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the bombing six days after it occurred.

Background and Perspective
More than 15'000 people have been killed in Nigeria over the last 15 years in this conflict. Most attacks involve religious motivation; typically stemming from demands for Islamic Sharia law to replace supreme law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The group Boko Haram has been attributed to being behind the attacks. Since that group has little internal organization and is fragmented into factions these actions are generally not attributed to any specific group or leader.

Attack
Explosives hidden inside vehicles detonated during morning rush hour in a bus station in Nyanya on the outskirts of Abuja. After the initial blast, further explosions occurred as fuel tanks in nearby vehicles ignited.

Abbas Idris, head of the Abuja Emergency Relief Agency, confirmed that 71 people had been killed and 124 injured. The bus station serves a poor, ethnically and religiously mixed community. Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that numerous injured victims were undergoing treatment in the hospital. By April 15, the death toll had increased to 75, as investigators continued to sift through the wreckage at the blast site. By April 18, the death toll had increased to 88, with more than 200 reported injured.

Responsibility
Boko Haram, claimed responsibility for the bombing six days after it occurred -- the video claiming responsibility features the group's leader Abubakar Shekau and was released on 19 April.

Response
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan visited the scene of the blast, where he appeared to blame Islamic militant group Boko Haram for the explosion, saying: "We have lost quite a number. We condole with our country men and women. The issue of Boko Haram is quite an ugly history within this period of our own development. Government is doing everything to make sure that we move our country forward. But these are the unnecessary distractions that are pushing us backward. But we will get over it."

The attack came the day after Nigerian senator Ahmed Zanna claimed the Islamist group had killed 135 civilians in north east Nigeria in three attacks during the week preceding the blast.