Nigerian World Cup viewing blast
June 17, 2014
Police and witnesses said the blast ripped through the Crossfire venue in Damaturu, shortly after the 8 p.m. local time (1900 UTC) kickoff between World Cup hosts Brazil and Mexico on Tuesday.
Early on Wednesday a hospital source was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that 21 people had died.
There were also reports of trucks carrying bodies being seen. The explosion happened in the Nayi-Nawa neighborhood of Damaturu, the capital of the northern state of Yobe, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) northeast of the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
"There was an explosion outside a soccer viewing centre here in Damaturu at around 8:15 p.m.," Sanusi Ruf'ai, police commissioner for Yobe state, told AFP news agency. "Our men have deployed to the scene but it's too early for us to give details."
Two Nigerian states banned viewing centers on security grounds, after previous attacks blamed on Boko Haram Islamist militants had targeted football fans.
Authorities in Adamawa, northeastern Nigeria, closed viewing centers catering for large crowds last week, with the central state of Plateau following suit within days.
Some 40 people were killed earlier this month when a bomb exploded after a football match in the Adamawa town of Mubi. Three people were killed in Jos, the capital of Plateau state, outside a viewing center showing the Champions League final between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in May.
As part of Boko Haram's strict Islamist agenda, leader Abubakar Shekau has preached against football, describing the sport, like music, as a western ploy to distract Muslims from their religion.
rc/crh (AFP, Reuters)