Pre-election blast kills at least 8 in Nigeria

[News_Editor]

Pre-election blast kills at least 8 in Nigeria

2011-04-09 05:51:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

SULEJA, NIGERIA (BNO NEWS) -- An explosion blasted Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office on Friday, allegedly killing at least 8 people one day before the scheduled national elections.

"Reports coming into our situation room suggest that there has been a bomb blast at the INEC Suleja office," a spokesperson for the INEC said. "Approximately 8 people [are] allegedly dead, and casualties [have] been taken to the General Hospital."

At around 6 p.m. local time, the explosion struck the INEC office, which is located in Suleja, Niger state, around 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Nigeria's capital, Abuja. The blast occurred just hours before Nigerians were to vote in the first of three stages to elect members of the country's Parliament.

Nigeria's presidential elections, which were initially set for Saturday, had already been rescheduled to take place next week on Saturday, April 16. Meanwhile, governor and legislature elections in all of Nigeria's 36 states are scheduled for April 26.

The electoral commission has not announced whether Friday's blast would force the elections to be postponed again.

On Thursday, however, officials had announced the postponing of parliamentary voting in the Niger South senatorial district and other regions, including Bida, Gbako, Katcha, as well as the Lavun, Edasi, and Mokwa federal constituencies.

The cause of the blast is still uncertain as investigations are currently being carried out, but initial reports indicate that victims include INEC officials and Youth Corps members.

On March 3, a previous bomb explosion in Suleja killed 10 people during a political rally organized by the People's Democratic Party.

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