Explosion rocks UN Nigeria office


Xinhua, August 27, 2011

The United Nations Security Council on Friday strongly condemned the car bomb attack on the UN building in the Nigerian capital Abuja, in which at least 18 people were killed and many others wounded.

A victim of a bomb blast ripped through the United Nations offices in the Nigerian capital of Abuja is loaded into an ambulance, August 26, 2011, after a car rammed into the building, and witnesses said they had seen a number of dead bodies being carried from the site. [Xinhua/Reuters]

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja, Nigeria on August 26, 2011, causing numerous deaths and injures," said a Security Council press statement read out by Hardeep Singh Puri, Indian UN Ambassador, whose country holds the council's rotating presidency this month.

"They expressed their deep sympathy and condolences to the victims of this heinous crime and to their families, to the people and the Federal Republic of Nigeria and to the United Nations secretary-general and other UN colleagues," Puri said.

The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers, and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice and urged all states in accordance with their organizations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions to cooperate actively with the Nigerian authorities in this regard, he said.

Puri said the members of the Security Council reaffirm that terrorism in all of its forms and manifestations is criminal and unjustifiable regardless of its motivation, wherever, whenever, and by whomsoever committed, and reaffirmed the need to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

The council underlined their support for the people and the government of Nigeria as well as for the crucial work that the United Nations is doing in partnership with the government of Nigeria for the benefit of all Nigerians, he added.

The compound in Abuja, a series of buildings that house the offices of 26 UN humanitarian and development agencies, was struck by a car bomb at around 11 a.m. Friday local time. Hundreds of UN staff members were working in the compound at the time of the attack.

The Security Council observed a minute's silence before the start of a meeting Friday on UN peacekeeping operations, during which individual delegations all voiced their strong condemnation of the attack.