Nigeria U.N. office hit by huge bomb

A large explosion struck the United Nations' main office in Nigeria's capital Friday, flattening one wing of the building.

A U.N. official in Geneva called it a bomb attack, and witnesses told Reuters news agency a car rammed into the building and exploded.

"I saw scattered bodies," said Michael Ofilaje, a UNICEF worker at the building. "Many people are dead."

He said it felt like "the blast came from the basement and shook the building."

Local media reports said at least 10 people were killed and 40 injured, but the death toll was not immediately confirmed by officials.

The building houses about 400 employees of the U.N. in Nigeria, including the majority of its offices. A local U.N. spokesman declined to comment.

Alessandra Vellucci, a spokeswoman for the U.N. office in Geneva, said the global body's offices in Abuja had been bombed.

She told The Associated Press that there was no word yet on casualties.

The building, located in the same neighborhood as the U.S. embassy and other diplomatic posts in Abuja, had a huge hole punched in it.

Local police spokesman Jimoh Moshood confirmed the blast, but said police were still investigating the cause.

Nigeria is home to a violent Muslim separatist movement based in the largely-Islamic north. Boko Haram was linked to several bomb attacks in Nigeria last year.