by Selam Aster

A deadly terrorist attack has hit  a UN building in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. A car bomb blasted the section of the building that houses Unicef. Witnesses say that they saw a man driving a sedan, pummeling through UN gates and barging into the main reception area of the building. The total number of casualties is still unknown but at least 16 have been found dead at last count.

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Nigeria has been grappling with an Islamic militancy at home, and there has been speculation that these fighters may also be seeking links with foreign terror groups.” It is suspected that the Islamist group Boko Haram, aka “western education is sinful,”  is behind the bombing. The group opposes Western education and modern science and is seeking to implement Shariah law in the North, which is the home to Nigeria’s large Hausa and Muslim population.

Nigeria has suffered other attacks at the hands of local radical groups but only a few have garnered international attention. The United Nations target sent a clear message to foreign powers that the West African country is to be watched.

The last high profile terrorism incident came at the hands of a young Nigerian man, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to ignite explosives hiding in his underwear on a Northwest airlines flight to Detroit in 2009. Although of Nigerian origin, Abdulmuttallab said he was trained by al Qaeda forces outside of his home country.