Military base bombed

LAGOS (AP):

Bombs exploded yesterday at two major military bases on the outskirts of a central Nigerian city at the heart of ethnic and religious unrest in Africa's most populous nation, injuring an unknown number of people.

The attacks came as a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram launches increasingly bloody attacks on Nigeria's weak central government. No one immediately claimed yesterday's bombings, though suspicions quickly fell on the sect, even as state-run television aired a purported video yesterday from the group claiming it welcomed peace talks with the government.

The blasts struck at the Nigerian army's First Mechanised Division headquarters and the training command of the Nigerian air force near Kaduna, officials said. Soldiers and security agencies quickly shut down access to the two areas, with some seizing the cameras of working journalists.

A third explosion occurred near a highway overpass, though officials had no other details about it.

It was unclear how many people were wounded in the attacks, though witnesses said they saw injured soldiers wearing blood-drenched uniforms after the blasts. At the First Mechanized Division, the glass windows of the division's headquarters had been blown apart by the power of the explosion.

Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar Edun, a spokesman for the division, said two different cars loaded with explosives rammed through the headquarters' gates. Only one detonated, Edun said.

Major General Raphael Isa, an army spokesman, said in a statement that one of the suicide bombers was dressed in a military uniform. Soldiers guarding the gate opened fire on the man, who died from gunshot wounds.

"The suicide bomber was the only casualty," Isa said.