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Explosion Hits Nigerian Shopping Mall, 21 Dead, Boko Haram Suspected (PICTURES, VIDEO)

Explosion Hits Nigerian Shopping Mall
Paul Vale
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An explosion has devastated a shopping mall in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, killing at least 21 people, according to local police. The blast, which is being blamed on Islamist militants, hit the Emab Plaza in the upscale Wuse 11 suburb just an hour before the national team’s World Cup match against Argentina on Wednesday evening (GMT).

Body parts lay strewn across the ground, according to witnesses, while AP reported that black smoke could be seen from miles away following the blast. Speaking to AP, witness Shuaibu Baba, who was in the mall, said, "I heard the explosion and (felt) the building shaking," adding that the driver that dropped him off was killed in the explosion. "I asked the driver to come with me, and he said 'no,' he would wait for me in the car."

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Alongside the fatalities, 17 people were seriously injured. Local police have arrested one suspect. Nigeria is currently besieged by violent attacks by Boko Haram, jihadi extremists that control large swathes of territory to the north of the country. In recent months, the group has extended their reach to the capital, killing more than 120 people in April in an attack on a bus station.

Nigeria Mall Attack
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Boko Haram: Nigeria's Homegrown Terror
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A female student stands in a burnt classroom at Maiduguri Experimental School, a private nursery, primary and secondary school burnt by the Islamist group Boko Haram to keep children away from school in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria, May 12, 2012.(PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/GettyImages) (credit:Getty Images)
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In a Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 file photo, onlookers gather around a car destroyed in a blast next to St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla, Nigeria after an explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing scores of people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos. (AP Photo/Sunday Aghaeze, File) (credit:AP)
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In a Sunday, Dec. 25, 2011 file photo, medical officials try to treat a victim of a bomb blast at a Catholic church near Nigeria's capital at Suleja General Hospital in Suleja, Nigeria. An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing at least 25 people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect, Boko Haram, claimed the attack and another bombing near a church in the restive city of Jos. (AP Photo/Dele Jones, File) (credit:AP)
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This file image made available from Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2012, taken from video posted by Boko Haram sympathizers shows the leader of the radical Islamist sect Imam Abubakar Shekau. (AP Photo, File) (credit:AP)
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Bodies of people alleged to have been killed in a Friday attack on a town hall meeting of the Christian Igbo ethnic group lie on the floor in a hospital morgue in Mubi, in the Adamawa state of northern Nigeria, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2012. The town hall attack, which left at least 20 dead, is one of a string of deadly attacks claimed by radical Muslim sect Boko Haram. (AP Photo) (credit:AP)
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An anti bomb police officer collect soft drink can bombs recovered from islamic militants in Kano, Nigeria, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Police said Tuesday that members of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram dressed in uniforms resembling those of soldiers and police officers when they launched their attack Friday in Kano. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) (credit:AP)
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In this Monday, Oct. 8, 2012 photo taken with a mobile phone, a police officer walks past a burnt out shopping mall in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (AP Photo/Abdulkareem Haruna) (credit:AP)
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In this frame grab from TV footage shot by the Nigeria television authority on Monday, Oct. 8, 2012 but aired Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, shows people lying down (condition of people unknown) on a street in Maiduguri, Nigeria. (AP Photo / Nigeria Television Authority) (credit:AP)
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A partially burnt down communication tower destroyed by Boko Haram in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. A radical Islamist sect claimed responsibility Friday for attacks on mobile phone towers which have crippled communications in Nigeria's northeast, as security forces struggling to control the violence said they had gunned down seven suspected sect members. (AP Photo/Haruna Umar) (credit:AP)
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Weapons and ammunition along with police uniforms and bulletproof vests recovered from suspected Boko Haram sect members, put on display in Bukavu Barracks in Kano, Nigeria, Wednesday, March. 21, 2012. (AP Photos/Salisu Rabiu) (credit:AP)
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Burnt our cars are seeing at the business and skills center following gun battle and explosions by the Boko Haram sect, in Potiskum, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP/Photo Adamu Adamu) (credit:AP)
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Burnt out school block following a gun battle and explosions by the Boko Haram sect in Potiskum, Nigeria, Saturday, Oct. 20 , 2012. (AP Photo/Adamu Adamu) (credit:AP)
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In this Wednesday, March 21, 2012 file photo, suspected members of the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, are detained by the military, in Bukavu Barracks in Kano state, Nigeria after an attack on a police headquarters, the home of a senior police officer and setting fire to a nearby bank. (AP Photos/Salisu Rabiu-file) (credit:AP)
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