Nigeria's Abuja hit by blasts with at least 18 dead

Jump media player

Media player help

dNigeria's Abuja hit by blasts with at least 18 dea

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media caption"I saw fire, everybody was afraid to go in there"

The first two struck Kuje township: one by a suicide bomber near a police station, the other a bomb at a market.A series of explosions on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja have killed at least 18 people, officials say.

Another bomb exploded at a bus stop in Nyanya.

No group has said it carried out the attacks yet but suspicion has fallen on Boko Haram Islamists, who targeted Nyanya last year.

The militants, who are fighting to carve out an Islamist state, has mostly focused their campaign on the north-east.

More than 40 people were injured in the blasts on Friday night, which security officials described as co-ordinated.

Explosives experts have been combing the scene for bomb fragments.

Police have also stepped up stop-and-search activities in Abuja following the blasts, AFP reported.

Nigeria's President, Muhammadu Buhari, who came to power vowing to eradicated Boko Haram, condemned the attack.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionCrowds gathered at the scene of the blast in Nyana the morning after

"My heart goes out to the families of the dead and injured in Abuja, and other parts of the country. Our will cannot be broken; evil will never triumph over good. We will be rid of this evil stalking our land," he tweeted.

Some 17,000 people are said to have been killed since Boko Haram began its insurgency in 2009.

This year, security forces have managed to reclaim most of the territory captured by Boko Haram fighters and freed a number of people kidnapped but militant attacks have intensified.