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21 Die in Twin Car Bombs Near Nigeria Shopping Mall

A police officer at the scene said the cause of the blast was improvised explosive devices in two cars.
Image: People watch as smoke fills the sky, after an explosion, at a shopping mall on June 25, in Abuja, Nigeria
People watch as smoke fills the sky, after an explosion, at a shopping mall on June 25, in Abuja, Nigeria. An explosion rocked a shopping mall in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Wednesday and police say at least over 20 people have been killed and many wounded. Witnesses say body parts were scattered around the exit to Emab Plaza, in the upscale Wuse 11 suburb.AP

Twin car bombs killed at least 21 people outside an upmarket shopping mall in Nigeria's capital Abuja on Wednesday, police said. At least 17 people were injured in the blasts at the popular Banex Plaza shopping center, Assistant Inspector General Suleiman A. Abba told NBC News. Chiledu Ammi, manager of a beauty salon in the shopping center, said the aftermath of the blast was a scene of carnage, and as many as 50 police officers and firefighters had now taken over the area.

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Another witness, Gimbya Jafaru who was shopping nearby, told Reuters: "I heard a loud blast, it shattered the windows of the shop. We ran out. A lot of people ran too, some with blood stains." A video showed emergency service workers hosing down lines of blackened cars and tweets from the area saw smoke filling the sky above the city, although these could not be verified by NBC News. Nigeria is hit by bomb blasts and gun attacks every week, widely suspected to be perpetrated by the Islamist group Boko Haram.

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Reuters contributed to this report.

— Alexander Smith