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Umar Mairiga, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said that seven injured people were taken to a hospital for treatment and two had already been discharged. He said it was difficult to say how many people had died in a blast that left bodies dismembered in the parking lot outside the building of the police headquarters Thursday morning.
An Associated Press reporter said more than 50 cars had been damaged and burnt by the explosion.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear. Thick black smoke could be seen from far away at the time of the blast, and fire services have since put out the fire. Army, police and emergency workers were also at the blast site.
The police headquarters building was not affected by the blast.
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. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the dominant militant group in the Niger delta region, claimed responsibility for the anniversary attacks.
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