Explosion at UN building in Nigeria's capital

Many feared dead after entire wing of Abuja building is levelled
No immediate claim of responsibility for blast

Many people are feared dead after a large explosion tore through a United Nations building in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, levelling one wing of the building.

Witnesses said police and emergency workers were carrying bodies from the building after the explosion, which happened just before 11am.

Police and the wounded thronged around the three-storey building as people began to search for victims.

Alessandra Vellucci, a spokeswoman for the UN in Geneva, said its offices in Abuja had been bombed. She told the Associated Press that there was no word yet on casualties.

Michael Ofilaje, a Unicef worker at the building, said: "I saw scattered bodies. Many people are dead."

Ofilaje told the Associated Press it felt like "the blast came from the basement and shook the building".

The building houses about 400 employees of the UN in Nigeria and the majority of its offices.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for blast, but oil-rich Nigeria faces terrorist threats on multiple fronts. Last year, a militant group from the country's oil-producing Niger Delta detonated car bombs in the capital during Nigeria's 50th independence anniversary ceremony, killing at least 12.

A nation of 150 million people, Nigeria is split between a largely Christian south and Muslim north. In recent months, the country has faced an increasing threat from a radical Muslim sect called Boko Haram, which wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law. The sect has carried out assassinations and bombings, including the June car bombing of the national headquarters of Nigeria's federal police that killed at least two people.

Earlier this month, the commander for US military operations in Africa said Boko Haram may be trying to forge connections with two groups linked to al-Qaida in other African countries to mount joint attacks in Nigeria.

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