UN Headquarters bomb: More attacks under way – Boko Haram …18 dead, over 50 injured UN was warned in advance – Report
To hear eyewitnesses give their accounts of the bomb blast that rocked the United Nations (UN) office in Abuja yesterday, would be like listening to fiction because the building is one of the most secure facilities in the country. But the rubble of the once-magnificent building shows how it was brought down by a suicide […]
To hear eyewitnesses give their accounts of the bomb blast that rocked the United Nations (UN) office in Abuja yesterday, would be like listening to fiction because the building is one of the most secure facilities in the country. But the rubble of the once-magnificent building shows how it was brought down by a suicide bomber whose car was rigged with explosives, ramming through the giant gate, erupting in a thunderous explosion. Sarah Akpan, who resides close to the UN office told Weekly Trust: “When we first heard the blast we thought it was thunder or something, but as the vibrations continued for a while, we knew there was more to it.”
Messages in the media have called for blood donors to come forward to help save the lives of the injured. While varying casualty figures were bandied about, with UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon saying they may be “considerable.” FCT Police Commissioner Mike Zuokumor, at the bomb site, said: “So far, we have 18 dead and eight injured.” A collation based on information from medical personnel put the injured over 50 in number. A visit to the Blood Bank showed that many sympathizers responded as they filed in to donate blood, much-needed in theaters.
Actually, it has been a long nightmare of insecurity since a bomb exploded at Eagle Square October 1st last year on Independence Day, killing and maiming a lot of people. Those conversant with Nigeria and its quirky ways prophesized then that worse will come because in Nigeria it would only take one bad action before copycats spring up. That prophecy has since come to pass. From MEND claiming responsibility for the Independence Day blast, a deadlier group, Boko Haram, has since successfully detonated several bombs in high-security facilities across the country or made attempts. The group claimed responsibility for the UN blast late yesterday afternoon in a telephone call put to Weekly Trust by Imam Muhammed Shekau, where he said the attack was “carefully scripted and executed.”
Speaking through Abu Dardam, a senior counselor of the group, Shekau said: “Through the wisdom of Allah, we have launched the attack with absolute precision. We have said it severally that UN is one of our prime targets.” He said details of the suicide bomber, whom he described as a martyr, will be made available soon. “More attacks are on the way. We have more than 100 people who are willing to give their lives to the cause,” he told Weekly Trust. He added that the group will also explain why it attacked the UN headquarters in due course. The UN, reports say, has been warned of impending attacks.
Watch video of a victim being evacuated from the scene
With the UN office incident, the Boko Haram bombing campaign that has hitherto been aimed at state and national targets has gone international. According to U.S. military officials, Boko Haram has been developing an alliance with other terrorist groups, including groups in Somalia and North Africa that are linked to al-Qaeda, which has often attacked UN targets. The group has claimed that its members have received training in Somalia, where an al-Qaeda-linked group is fighting against UN-backed peacekeeping forces.
As with all earlier bomb blasts, the tales of loss are heart-rending. Anne Orachukwu, who was searching for her uncle, said mournfully: “By this single act, many have become orphans, widows and widowers. I’m actually here with my aunt trying to remain strong for her. She was on the phone with her husband who happened to be at the UN office and then suddenly he screamed and the phone went dead. We have tried calling his phone but it has not been going through. So we are here hoping that the worst has not happened. My aunt has not left her rosary since we left home as she has been praying and crying that nothing has happened to him.”
More tears were shed by workers who escaped by whiskers but whose colleagues have been either killed or injured in the blast. Samson Michael, a UN staff, says that he and a friend were on their way out and already outside the compound when they heard the blast. He said: “I immediately abandoned my car and ran back inside only to find out that it was my office that was hit and also those at the basement. I still tried to find my way inside as I heard wailing and crying of people but I could not because of the thick smoke and fire coming from the building. After the security men had arrived and tried to put out the fire, I still ran inside and found out that some of our staff were trapped upstairs. I am here in the [National] hospital with some of the relatives of the causalities and we are keeping our fingers crossed that they come out of surgery alive.”
Extending his sympathy to the victims of the blast and their families he said: “The UN will undertake every possible effort to assist them during this difficult time.” Mr. Ban announced that he is dispatching Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro to Nigeria immediately and mobilizing the UN system to respond to the emergency. She will be accompanied by the UN security chief, Gregory Starr, and meet with Nigerian authorities on arrival in Abuja. The Secretary-General added that he will also call the President Goodluck Jonathan soon to discuss the attack.
The Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’ad told Weekly Trust over the phone last night that the attack was irresponsible and totally condemnable, “because it was unwarranted and against international civil servants who were rendering very useful social, cultural, educational and humanitarian services to this country.” He commiserated with the families of all those who lost their lives or sustained injuries as well as with the international community and urged all Nigerians to embrace the cause of peace and dialogue.
Medical personnel of the National Hospital Abuja were very busy trying to save lives as most of the emergency rooms were filled and they had no choice than to turn the reception to an emergency ward of sorts while some were seen being treated on the bare floor. Relatives of survivors were confused, weeping and frantically making telephone calls. Among the dead was an Associate Expatriate working with the World Health Organisation, housed in the attacked building. Weekly Trust could not ascertain her identity but she appeared to be in her late twenties, Caucasian and well-dressed.
Watch video of a survivor receiving treatment below
A cleaner, Ejike Innocent, who was sobbing as he reeled his experience said they were at the 3rd floor chatting after they cleaned the floor when they heard the thunder-like sound which left everyone confused. He said the staircases were destroyed and they had to jump from one floor to the next and eventually found their way out of the building. He said when they came out, that was when he saw the body of the suspected suicide bomber in bloody pieces.
The suspected bomber rammed into the UN building at about 10:30am in a Honda car, eyewitnesses say. The building was at full capacity with most of the staff working and with visitors present. Some security operatives narrated how it all happened. “It all happened so quickly,” they said. “We saw the car driving straight at the gate. When it seemed like the driver was not going to stop we tried to stop him but before we knew it he had rammed the gate down and was heading straight for the building. He drove straight into it, into the reception area. In what seemed like seconds we heard the deafening sound of an explosion and saw the whole place in flame, as human parts were flying in all directions.”
The blast shattered the glass windows of the front elevation of the building and took out almost all of the ground floor. Security agents and rescue workers in the aftermath of the event immediately cordoned off the building as they carried out rescue operations evacuating the dead and wounded to the nearby National Hospital in Abuja.
One Dr. Odeku was coordinating medical efforts at the site and he told reporters that the number of casualties was large, describing the aftermath of the blast. The Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Professor Viola Onwuliri, condemned the attack as dastardly, describing it as not an attack on Nigeria but on the international community. Medical facilities at the National hospital appeared over stretched when Weekly Trust got to the hospital, as doctors desperately pleaded with bystanders to donate blood.
On the floor, waiting for attention, Mrs. Julie Akhidenor, a worker at WHO with her husband standing guard beside her, with a few cuts and bruises, looked traumatized. She said she is glad she survived and kept shaking her head, asking over and over again: “But what kind of inhumane person would kill innocents?”