On 14 April 2014 at about 6:45am, two bombs exploded at a crowded bus station in Nyanya,

Nasarawa State Nasarawa State is a state in the North Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the east by the states of Taraba and Plateau, to the north by Kaduna State, to the south by the states of Kogi and Benue, and to the west by the Federal Capital Terri ...

, killing at least 88 people and injuring at least 200. The bus station is 8 km southwest of central

Federal Capital Territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or a ...

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

claimed responsibility for the bombing six days after it occurred. It occurred just hours before the Chibok kidnapping.

Attack

Explosives hidden inside vehicles detonated during morning rush hour in a bus station in Nyanya on the outskirts of

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

. After the initial blast, further explosions occurred as fuel tanks in nearby vehicles ignited. Abbas Idris, head of the Abuja Emergency Relief Agency, confirmed that 71 people had been killed and 124 injured. The bus station serves a poor, ethnically and religiously mixed community. Manzo Ezekiel, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that numerous injured victims were undergoing treatment in the hospital. By April 15, the death toll had increased to 75, as investigators continued to sift through the wreckage at the blast site. By April 18, the death toll had increased to 88, with more than 200 reported injured.

Responsibility

claimed responsibility for the bombing six days after it occurred—the video claiming responsibility features the group's leader

Abubakar Shekau Abu Mohammed Abubakar al-Sheikawi (also known by the alias ''Darul Akeem wa Zamunda Tawheed'', or ''Darul Tawheed''; "the abode of monotheism"; born 1965, 1969 or 1975 – 19 May 2021) was a Kanuri man known as the leader of Boko Haram, a Nigeri ...

and was released on 19 April. Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche was arrested by Interpol in Sudan in May 2014 on the suspicion of being one of the masterminds behind the bombings. Hours after the attack, Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of schoolgirls in

Chibok Chibok is a Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria, located in the south of the state. It has its headquarters in the town of Chibok. Landscape It has an area of 1,350 km² Population It has a population of 66,105 at the 2006 ...

Response

Nigerian President

Goodluck Jonathan Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...

visited the scene of the blast, where he said:

We have lost quite a number. We condole with our country men and women. The issue of Boko Haram is quite an ugly history within this period of our own development. Government is doing everything to make sure that we move our country forward. But these are the unnecessary distractions that are pushing us backward. But we will get over it.

The attack came the day after Nigerian senator

Ahmed Zanna Khalifa Ahmed Zanna (5 January 1955 – 16 May 2015) was a Nigerian politician who was elected Senator for Borno Central, in Borno State, on the 9 April, 2011 national elections at the age of 55. He was elected under the People's Democratic P ...

claimed the Islamist group had killed 135 civilians in north east Nigeria in three attacks during the week preceding the blast.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nyanya bombing 2014 murders in Nigeria Boko Haram bombings Massacres perpetrated by Boko Haram Improvised explosive device bombings in Nigeria Islamic terrorist incidents in 2014 Mass murder in 2014 Terrorist incidents in Nigeria in 2014 Nasarawa State April 2014 events in Nigeria Attacks on bus stations Building bombings in Africa

Attack

Responsibility

Response

See also

References