Terror comes to Abuja

A morning rush-hour bomb killed at least 71 people at a Nigerian bus station on the outskirts of the capital yesterday, raising concerns about the spread of an Islamist insurgence after the deadliest ever attack on Abuja.

President Goodluck Jonathan blamed Boko Haram, though there was no immediate claim of responsibility from the militants who are active mainly in the northeast.

As well as the dead, police said 124 were wounded in the first attack on the federal capital in two years.

Visiting the scene, Jonathan 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 said, imploring Nigerians to be more vigilant in the face of suspicious characters.

Security experts suspect the explosion was inside a vehicle, said Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, director of search and rescue operations. The bus station, 8km southwest of central Abuja, serves Nyanya, a poor ethnically and religiously mixed satellite town where many residents work in the city.

"I was waiting to get on a bus when I heard a deafening explosion, then saw smoke," said Mimi Daniels, who escaped from the blast with minor injuries.

Bloody remains lay strewn over the ground as security forces struggled to hold back a crowd of onlookers and fire crews hosed down a bus still holding the charred bodies of commuters.

"These are the remains of my friend," said a man, who gave his name as John, holding up a bloodied shirt.

"His travel ticket with his name on was in the shirt pocket."

Boko Haram militants are increasingly targeting civilians they accuse of collaborating with state forces.

Kole Shettima, director of the Abuja office of US charitable institution the MacArthur Foundation, said: "The situation has been escalating.

"It's a statement that they are still around and they can attack Abuja when they want, and instil fear."

The militants want Nigeria to become an Islamic state.

Bombers hit pub in Arusha

Fifteen people were injured late on Sunday when a makeshift bomb exploded in a crowded bar in Arusha, a popular destination for Western tourists in northern Tanzania, a senior government official said.

Police said they were trying to establish who planted the bomb and the motive of the attack.

Officials said Sunday's bomb exploded at the Arusha Night Park pub when football fans were watching an English Premier League match on television.

Godbles Lema, member of parliament for Arusha, said he was worried.

"These explosions first started at a church, then moved to a public rally organised by the (opposition) Chadema party and now at a pub," Lema said in a statement.

Two bombing attacks in the same city killed five people last year.