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Bomb blast kills scores in Nigeria, president vows to end terrorism as AU and UN Security Council condemn

Updated 23:40 GMT

At least seventy people were killed and over 124 injured when a bomb ripped through a crowded bus station near the Nigerian capital Abuja early Monday, reports said. The death toll was expected to rise.

The blast, which occurred at the Nyanya Bus Park station five miles (8km) south of Abuja, came as commuters travelled during morning rush hour.

It destroyed over 30 vehicles, including 16 luxury coaches, and hurled body parts across the area. Secondary explosions ignited vehicle fuel tanks.

See reports by Reuters, BBC and The Guardian.

The Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, which seeks to establish an Islamic state in Nigeria, is widely suspected of carrying out the attack, though no one claimed responsibility.

Intense confrontations between Boko Haram and Nigerian security forces has killed over 135 civilians in the past few days, and over 1,500 people, have of them civilians, this year. Some 250,000 people have been forced to leave their homes because of the fighting.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who has placed three north-eastern states under a state of emergency since May last year, visited the site of the blasts later Monday.

He denounced "the activities of those who are trying to move our country backwards" by staging such an attack.

"We will get over it ... The issue of Boko Haram is temporary," he vowed.

A spokesperson for the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) urging Nigerians to unite behind the president to end terrorism called on the international community to act.

“There is a need for western [countries] to quickly assist Nigeria so that terrorism would be defeated,” a PDP spokesperson said.

The African Union condemned the attack, as did the UN Security Council.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in a statement he “strongly condemns all indiscriminate killings and acts of violent extremism.

“The perpetrators of this attack, and those responsible for the continuing brutal attacks in the northeast of the country, must be brought to justice,” he said.

This would not be the first time that Boko Haram has attacked the capital, Abuja. In 2011, Boko Haran claimed responsibility for an attack on the United Nations building, killing 21 people and wounding 60 others.

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