Security tightened after UN HQ bomb

Security around Nigeria’s capital has been tightened the day after a car bomb exploded at the United Nations’ main headquarters in Abuja, killing at least 18 people in one of the deadliest assaults on the international body in a decade.

Soldiers wearing flak jackets blocked the main highway heading into the city from Abuja’s international airport and checked passing vehicles.

At the UN building, soldiers, police and members of Nigeria’s secret police cordoned off the area, stopping journalists near the gate.

A radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attack.

The group, which has reported links to al-Qaida, wants to implement a strict version of Sharia law in the nation and is vehemently opposed to Western education and culture.