20110101
reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) - A bomb at a crowded market in Nigeria's capital Abuja killed at least four people and injured more than a dozen during New Year's Eve celebrations late on Friday.

President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the blast on an Islamist group that claimed responsibility for bombings on Christmas Eve in central Nigeria that killed at least 80 people, and urged the security forces to track down those responsible.

The explosion occurred at Mami market, a busy area where people congregate to socialise on the edge of the Sani Abacha army barracks but not in its militarised area.

Boko Haram, a radical sect which wants Islamic law throughout Nigeria, said it was behind the bombings in Jos on December 24, which also wounded more than 100.

The police say the group is blame for a series of shootings and blasts in northern Nigeria in the past week that come just four months before a presidential election in Nigeria that could heighten religious and ethnic rivalries in the oil exporter.

"There are four dead and at least 13 injured," police spokesman Moshood Jimoh said.

"The scene has been cordoned off by security agents and an investigation has commenced. Security has been tightened around the whole city."

A worker at the military medical centre in the barracks said at least 11 people had been killed and many more casualties were being taken to other hospitals in Abuja.