Witnesses said authorities had cordoned off the roads approaching the police
station and ambulances and fire engines were at the scene. Nigerian
television stations NTA, Channels and AIT all reported that the blast had
been caused by a bomb.
"My windows were shaking and I heard the loud noise. I saw smoke coming
up. I think it was from the car park of the police station," one
witness said.
An emergency services spokesman said a suspected suicide bomber died in the
incident.
A series of explosions and attacks targeting police and fire service
headquarters rocked northeastern Nigeria last week, suspected to have been
carried out by a radical Islamist sect.
Book Haram, which says it wants a wider application of sharia (Islamic law) in
Africa's most populous nation, has warned that it will carry out further
attacks across the country if its demands are not met.
A bomb exploded on New Year's Eve in an open-air beer garden and market at an
army barracks in the capital, killing at least four and wounding at least
21, police said.
Dual car bombings killed at least 12 people during Nigeria's 50th independence
anniversary celebrations in Abuja on Oct. 1. One bomb detonated, with
another exploding about five minutes later, targeting police, firefighters
and curious onlookers gathered there.
