2011 Abuja United Nations bombing

Last updated

2011 Abuja United Nations bombing
Part of Nigerian Sharia conflict
Locator Map Abuja-Nigeria.png
Location Abuja, FCT, Nigeria
Date26 August 2011
11:00 WAT (UTC+01:00)
TargetUnited Nations compound
Attack type
Suicide bombing
Deaths21 [1]
Injured73

The 2011 Abuja bombing was a car bomb explosion on Friday, 26 August 2011 in the Nigerian capital Abuja's UN building that killed at least 21 and wounded 60. A spokesperson from the Sunni Islamist group Boko Haram later claimed responsibility. [1]

At about 11:00 WAT in the diplomatic zone in the centre of the city the car bomb vehicle broke through two security barriers. Then its driver detonated the bomb after crashing it into the UN reception area. The bomb caused devastation to the building's lower floors. The building is said to be the headquarters for about 400 UN employees but it is not clear how many were inside the building at the time of the attack.

A wing of the building collapsed and the ground floor of the building was badly damaged. Emergency services were quickly on the scene removing dead bodies from the building and rushing the wounded to hospital. Cranes were brought to the blast site to move the mass of rubble and ensure that no-one is trapped there. [2]

The blast killed at least 21 people and injured 73. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Viola Onwuliri, said: "This is not an attack on Nigeria but on the global community. An attack on the world." [2] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the attack as an 'assault on those who devote themselves to helping others' [3] The attack was the first suicide bombing in Nigeria to attack an international organisation. [4]

In September 2011 the Nigerian Department of State Security alleged that Mamman Nur was the mastermind behind the attack and offered a 26 million (US$160,000) bounty. [5] [6] Also four men appeared in an Abuja magistrates' court charged with organising the bombing, and were remanded in custody to a federal high court hearing.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maiduguri</span> Capital city of Borno State, Nigeria

Maiduguri is the capital and the largest city of Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on the continent of Africa. The city sits along the seasonal Ngadda River which disappears into the Firki swamps in the areas around Lake Chad. Maiduguri was founded in 1907 as a military outpost by the British Empire during the colonial period. As of 2022, Maiduguri is estimated to have a population of approximately two million in the metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Security Service (Nigeria)</span> Nigeria government agency

The State Security Service(SSS), self-styled as the Department of State Services (DSS), is a security agency in Nigeria and one of three successor organisations to the National Security Organization (NSO). The agency is under the Presidency of Nigeria, and it reports its activities direct to the President, office of the ONSA, headquartered in Abuja.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goodluck Jonathan</span> President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015

Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan is a Nigerian politician who served as the president of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari and was the first incumbent president in Nigerian history to concede defeat in an election and therefore allow for a peaceful transition of power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boko Haram</span> Central-West African jihadist terrorist organization

Boko Haram, officially known as Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, is an Islamist jihadist organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. In 2016, the group split, resulting in the emergence of a hostile faction known as the Islamic State's West Africa Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boko Haram insurgency</span> Terrorism in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Boko Haram insurgency began in July 2009, when the militant Islamist and jihadist rebel group Boko Haram started an armed rebellion against the government of Nigeria. The conflict is taking place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria's Muslim and Christian communities, and the insurgents' ultimate aim is to establish an Islamic state in the region.

The 2011 Abuja police headquarters bombing was believed to be the first suicide bombing in Nigeria's history. The attack occurred on 16 June 2011, when a suicide bomber drove a car bomb onto the premises of the Louis Edet House in Abuja, the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force. He may have been trying to kill Inspector-General of Police Hafiz Ringim, whose convoy he followed into the compound, but he was stopped by security before he could do so.

The 2011 Damaturu attacks were a series of coordinated assaults in the northern Nigerian city on 4 November 2011 that killed more than 100 people and injured hundreds more. A spokesperson for the Sunni Muslim terrorist group Boko Haram later claimed responsibility and promised "more attacks are on the way."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christmas 2011 Nigeria attacks</span> Insurgent happening in Christmas day 2011

A series of attacks occurred during Christmas Day church services in northern Nigeria on 25 December 2011. There were bomb blasts and shootings at churches in Madalla, Jos, Gadaka, and Damaturu. A total of 41 people were reported dead.

A series of assaults on businesses occurred in northeastern Nigeria on 5 and 6 January 2012, followed by attacks on police stations and government offices in the north on 20 January. Over 180 people were killed.

On 7 August 2012, a mass shooting occurred at Deeper Life, an evangelical Christian church near Okene in Nigeria's central Kogi State. Three unidentified gunmen killed 19 people, including the church's pastor. The following day, in an apparent reprisal killing, three gunmen on motorcycles killed two soldiers and a civilian outside a mosque in Okene.

Timeline of the Boko Haram insurgency is the chronology of the Boko Haram insurgency, an ongoing armed conflict between Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. Boko Haram have carried out many attacks against the military, police and civilians since 2009, mostly in Nigeria. The low-intensity conflict is centred on Borno State. It peaked in the mid 2010s, when Boko Haram extended their insurgency into Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">April 2014 Nyanya bombing</span> 2014 bombing of a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria by Boko Haram

On 14 April 2014 at about 6:45 am, two bombs exploded at a crowded bus station in Nyanya, Nasarawa State, killing at least 88 people and injuring at least 200. The bus station is 8 km southwest of central Federal Capital Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May 2014 Nyanya bombing</span>

On 1 May 2014, a car bomb exploded in New Nyanya, a town in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. The explosion killed at least 19 people and injured at least 60.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">June 2014 Kaduna and Abuja attacks</span>

Between 23 and 25 June 2014, a series of attacks occurred in central Nigeria. On 23–24 June, gunmen attacked a number of villages in Kaduna State, killing around 150 people. The attack was blamed on Fulani tribesmen. On 25 June 2014, a bomb exploded at the Emab Plaza in the national capital of Abuja, killing at least 21 people. In response to the bombing, the Nigerian military raided two militants camps on 26 June, killing more than 100 people.

The following lists events from 2014 in Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wuse bombing</span>

The Wuse bombing was a terrorist attack on the Emab plaza in Wuse, a district of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">September 2015 Borno State bombings</span>

On the evening of September 20, 2015, a series of bombings took place in Maiduguri and Monguno, Nigeria, killing at least 145 people and injuring at least 97 others. The majority of casualties occurred in Maiduguri where four explosions killed at least 117 people.

The 2015 Chad suicide bombings were a suicide attack which occurred the afternoon of Saturday 10, October 2015 in the town of Baga Sola, Chad, a small fishing community on Lake Chad. The attack was allegedly perpetrated by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremist group Boko Haram and resulted in the deaths of around 36 individuals, and wounded upwards of 50 more. The attacks were reportedly carried out by two women, two children, and a man with the intended targets being a busy marketplace, and a nearby refugee camp hosting tens of thousands of Nigerians. It was the deadliest attack to take place in the Lake Chad region.

References

  1. 1 2 Nossiter, Adam (28 August 2011). "Islamic Group Says It Was Behind Fatal Nigeria Attack". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  2. 1 2 BBC (26 August 2011). "Abuja attack: Car bomb hits Nigeria UN building". BBC News. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
  3. "Abuja bombing: UN offices hit by deadly blast". The Guardian. Retrieved on 28 August 2011.
  4. "Terrorism in Nigeria: A dangerous new level". The Economist. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  5. "Nigerian authorities seek alleged mastermind of deadly UN headquarters bombing". The Washington Post. 18 September 2011.[ dead link ]
  6. Imobo-Tswam, Simon (19 September 2011). "Nigeria: UN Building – Video of Boko Haram Bomber Released". allAfrica.com.

See also

9°03′00″N7°30′00″E / 9.0500°N 7.5000°E / 9.0500; 7.5000