Nigeria: Security tight after UN HQ bombing

[August 27, 2011]  ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) -- Security around Nigeria's capital has been tightened the day after a car bomb exploded at the United Nations' main headquarters in Abuja, killing at least 18 people in one of the deadliest assaults on the international body in a decade.

Soldiers wearing flak jackets blocked the main highway heading into the city from Abuja's international airport on Saturday and checked passing vehicles.

At the U.N. building, soldiers, police and members of Nigeria's secret police cordoned off the area, stopping journalists near the gate.

A radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, which has reported links to al-Qaida, wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law in the nation and is vehemently opposed to Western education and culture.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.