At least 21 dead after massive bomb blast tears through Nigerian mall as people prepared to watch their soccer team play in World Cup leaving body parts scattered and blood everywhere

Witnesses said body parts were scattered near Emab Plaza in capital Abuja as black smoke could be seen a mile away



Police said 21 bodies had been recovered and 17 more people were injured as rescue work continued at the site



Mall was reportedly teeming with people just an hour before Nigeria's match against Argentina in Porto Alegre, Brazil

It should have been a national celebration as Nigeria was guaranteed a place in the next round for first time since 1998

Bomb also killed 14 at viewing site last week. Coach: 'How much of a victory is football going to give for those lives?'



No one has claimed responsibility though attack bore hallmarks of Boko Haram, which has been fighting in northeast


An explosion in a Nigerian shopping mall has killed at least 21 people just an hour before the national football team played Argentina in the World Cup.



Witnesses said the blast left body parts scattered around the Emab Plaza in an upmarket district of Abuja, as billows of black smoke could be seen from a mile away.



It turned what should have been a national celebration into a national tragedy as Nigeria secured its place in the World Cup's knockout stages for the first time since 1998.

It came a week after 14 people were killed by a suicide bomb while watching the Brazil v Mexico match in Damaturu, Nigeria.

Nigeria football coach Stephen Keshi said after the bombing: 'How much of a victory is football going to give for those lives? What are they doing these guys? They did it the first game, and they now they did it again, it is sad.'

Scroll down for video



WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT



Devastating: An explosion has killed at least 21 people in a shopping mall in the Nigerian capital Abuja an hour before the national football team started playing in Brazil

Wounded: At least 17 more people were injured in the blast, including this man being helped to safety. The government has said it will check the activities of 'insurgents'

Brutal: Rescue workers carry the remains of a person in a body bag after the bomb in the crowded mall. Witnesses reported seeing shoppers covered in blood

Rescue: Police Superintendent Frank Mba said 17 people were wounded and 21 bodies were recovered, with rescue work still ongoing at the shopping mall in the capital Devastation: A Nigerian soldier at the scene of the explosion which killed 21 people and wounded 17 more in the capital Abuja. Violence is becoming more frequent The blast is the latest in a series of violent attacks blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram, who have a stronghold in the northeast of the country Smoke: Several cars were left burnt-out by the bomb, which unconfirmed reports suggested could have been dropped off next to the mall by motorbike

No one has yet claimed responsibility, but the attack bears hallmarks of Boko Haram extremism.

One local man, Shuaibu Baba, was in a shop making photocopies when the blast hit, killing his taxi driver who was waiting for him outside.

'I lost a driver. And why? Because I came to photocopy for 10 naira ($0.06) a page,' he said. 'I begged him to take me here and this is the end.'

Officials said the explosion hit while the district was at its busiest, packed with shoppers and rush-hour commuters.

'I heard a loud blast, it shattered the windows of the shop. We ran out. A lot of people ran too, some with bloodstains,' said Gimbya Jafaru, who was shopping nearby.

Police Superintendent Frank Mba said 17 people were wounded and 21 bodies were recovered.

He also said one suspect has been arrested and investigations have already started. Another suspect was killed by soldiers as he tried to escape on a motorcycle, the spokesman for Nigeria's National Information Centre said.



The blast came as Nigerians were preparing to watch their country's Super Eagles come up against Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil.

Crowded: The shopping centre was reportedly teeming with people at the time of the explosion this afternoon. 'I heard the explosion and (felt) the building shaking,' said Shuaibu Baba, who had a narrow escape. He said he rushed downstairs to find that the driver who had dropped him a few minutes earlier was dead

Burnt-out: Smoke rises from vehicles after the bomb exploded in an upmarket district of Abuja. Several cars around the shopping mall caught fire after the blast Rescue work: The blast came as Nigerians were preparing to watch their country's Super Eagles come up against Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil A government spokesman said 'every step is being taken to check the activities of insurgents in the country' and advised Nigerians to remain vigilant of strangers

Many shops at the mall have TV screens, but it was unclear if the explosion was timed to coincide with the match.

One witness said he thought the bomb was dropped at the entrance to the mall in the Wuse 11 suburb by a motorcyclist, but Mba said it was too early to say.

Chiamaka Oham, who was near the site of the blast, told the BBC: 'We heard a really loud noise and the building shook, and people started screaming and running out.

'We saw the smoke and people covered in blood. It was just chaos.'

The group stage match in Porto Alegre, Brazil, went ahead between Argentina and Nigeria, with Nigeria losing 3-2 but still qualifying for the tournament's knockout stages .

Argentine star Lionel Messi scored twice during a tense match which was clinched in the 50th minute. But the game was more of a lap of honour for both Group F teams, as they were already guaranteed a place in the knockout stages after beating Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iran.

Around 1,000 Nigerians made the trip to Brazil's southern city of Porto Alegre, and some wore t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan 'Soccer against Boko Haram.'



One supporter, Kenneth Okechu-Kwu Onfemere, said: 'We need God's intervention to stop this from happening. I don't think these people are humans. They are hiding behind masks.

'Football can bring love, happiness and unity. It can make us forget our problems.'



Emergency: Workers carry a man who was injured into the Maitama general hospital. The explosion was at Emab Plaza, near the Banex Plaza shopping district Guard: Nigerian soldiers lined the streets as chaos gripped the capital in the wake of the attack. Many are pointing the finger at the militant group Boko Haram Constant threat: Abuja is in the centre of Nigeria and Boko Haram militants have spread their attacks to the capital from their stronghold in the north east

The blast is the latest in a series of violent attacks blamed on the Islamic extremists Boko Haram, who have a stronghold in the northeast of the country.

The bomb would be Abuja's third in three months and comes as the Nigerian government and military face rising public anger over their inability to protect citizens from daily gun and bomb attacks across Africa's most populous country.

Witnesses said the blast shattered windows, sent smoke billowing into the air and carved out a large crater.

Boko Haram attracted international condemnation for the April mass abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls, and is blamed for this week's abductions of another 91 people — 31 boys and 60 girls and women with toddlers as young as three.

Abuja residents were urged 'to remain calm and go about their normal business' by government spokesman Mike Omeri, who issued a statement saying that security agencies are 'handling the situation.'

He said that 'every step is being taken by the government to check the activities of insurgents in the country' and advised Nigerians to remain vigilant and conscious of movement of unidentified people.

Tragedy: People could do little but watch as a plume of thick black smoke rose into the air, which could be seen a mile away from the site of the explosion

Helped: People crowd around an injured woman outside the shopping mall following the blast. Police had already detained a suspect in the hours following the explosion Abuja residents were urged 'to remain calm and go about their normal business' by government spokesman Mike Omeri, who issued a statement after the bomb Horror: Surrounded by blood stains on the floor, those injured in the bomb blast waited for treatment at the Maitama general hospital in Abuja, a relatively wealthy city Cordon: The area around the popular shopping centre - hit at its busiest time of the day at around 4pm - was sealed off as rescue workers retrieved the dead Demolished: One car's bumper became detached and lay in the road as rescue workers surveyed the damage from the blast, widely blamed on militants Abuja is in the centre of Nigeria and the militants have spread their attacks to the capital. Two separate explosions in Abuja in April killed more than 120 people and wounded about 200 at a busy bus station. Both were claimed by Boko Haram, which threatened further attacks. A bomb at a medical college in northern Kano killed at least eight people on Monday, and last week, at least 14 died in a bomb blast at a World Cup viewing site in Damaturu, a state capital in the northeast. In May, twin car bombs in the central city of Jos left more than 130 people dead; and a car bomb at a bus station killed 24 people in the Christian quarter of Kano, a Muslim city. Nigeria's military and government claim to be winning the war in the five-year-old insurgency against the militants. But the tempo and deadliness of attacks has increased this year, killing more than 2,000 people so far compared to an estimated 3,600 killed over the past four years. Boko Haram wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, a West African nation whose 170million people are almost equally divided between Muslims who are dominant in the north and Christians in the south.