The 2011 Abuja UN bombing was the first suicide attack in Nigeria targeting an international organisation, killing at least 21 people.
Key Facts
- Date of attack
- 26 August 2011
- Deaths
- At least 21 people
- Injured
- 73 people
- Responsible group
- Boko Haram
- Bounty for mastermind
- ₦26 million (approx. US$160,000)
- Target
- UN headquarters building, Abuja diplomatic zone
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Boko Haram, a Sunni Islamist militant group operating in Nigeria, claimed responsibility for the attack. Suspected mastermind Mamman Nur allegedly organised the bombing as part of the group's campaign against Western and international institutions present in Nigeria.
On 26 August 2011, a suicide bomber drove a car through two security barriers at the UN building in Abuja and detonated the vehicle in the reception area. The blast destroyed the lower floors of the building, caused a wing to collapse, killed at least 21 people, and wounded 73 others.
Emergency services recovered bodies from the rubble and transported the wounded to hospital. The Nigerian Department of State Security named Mamman Nur as the mastermind and offered a bounty for his capture. Four men were charged in an Abuja magistrates' court and remanded to a federal high court for further proceedings.