Official: Bomb blast rocks northern Nigerian city
Hours after the inauguration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a bomb blast rocked the northern Nigerian city of Bauchi, a government spokesman said. Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that there are several casualties, though he did not give a specific number. "Most victims were moved to hospitals and dead bodies were evacuated," nike free he said. The emergency management agency has been mobilized "to contain the situation," Shuaib added. Another explosion rattled a beer hall in Zuba, on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital of Abuja. Shuaib said there were no serious injuries in that blast, with three victims taking themselves to a nearby hospital. In recent weeks, the African nation has been rocked by a series of bombings thought to be engineered by Boko Haram, an Islamic group that has challenged Nigeria's government. Explosions in Nigeria's northeastern state of Borno killed a few and wounded dozens in late April in the days leading up to national governorship elections in attacks that police described as attempts to intimidate voters who had picked Jonathan. Northern Muslims in some areas charged that the presidential election was rigged. Armed protesters in the region took to the streets chanting the name of former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, the main opposition front-runner. This is Jonathan's first full term. As vice president, he took over the presidency in May 2010 upon the death of then-President Umaru Yar'Adua, who had suffered from a heart condition.