Blast ‘hits’ Nigerian police base

A powerful explosion has hit the Nigerian police headquarters in the capital, Abuja, officials say.

“The police force headquarters has been bombed, everywhere is bombed,” deputy police spokesman Yemi Ajayi told AFP.

Local TV stations also said the blast was a bomb, Reuters news agency reports, and a large plume of smoke can be seen rising from near the building.

There are no details of casualties and no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

However, Islamist group Boko Haram has recently been targeting police and government officials.

The BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Lagos says for the Nigerian authorities the attack is an embarrassing strike at the very heart of their security establishment.

Residents say the explosion was heard across the city.

“My windows were shaking and I heard the loud noise. I saw smoke coming up. I think it was from the car park of the police station,” Reuters news agency quotes one witness as telling a local television station.

Mr Ajayi said several vehicles had been blown up.

Most of Boko Haram’s attacks have been in the northern city of Maiduguri.

But the group said it was behind a series of bombings that took place hours after President Goodluck Jonathan’s inauguration last month.

The group accuses Nigeria’s government of being corrupted by Western ideas and wants to overthrow the state and impose Islamic law on the country.

It has killed dozens of people, mostly shot by gunmen riding motorbikes, in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

Last year, officials blamed two explosions in Abuja during celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence on militants from the oil-rich Niger Delta.