Bomb attacks strike military bases in Nigeria

LAGOS, Nigeria — Bombs exploded Tuesday outside of 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 Tuesday's bombings, though suspicions quickly fell on the sect, even as state-run television aired a purported video Tuesday from the group claiming it welcomed peace talks with the government.

The blasts struck near the Nigerian army's 1st Mechanized 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 injured in the attacks, though witnesses said they saw injured soldiers wearing blood-drenched uniforms after the blasts. At the 1st Mechanized Division, the glass windows of the division's headquarters had been blown apart by the power of the explosion.

Maj. Gen. Raphael Isa, an army spokesman, said in a statement that a suicide bomber dressed in a military uniform attempted to drive a car bomb into the division headquarters. Soldiers guarding the gate opened fire on the man, who died from gunshot wounds.

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

An air force spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment, though military officials in Nigeria often downplay casualties suffered by their personnel.

Kaduna, on Nigeria's dividing line between its largely Christian south and Muslim north, was at the heart of postelection violence in April. Mobs armed with machetes and poison-tipped arrows took over streets of Kaduna and the state's rural countryside after election officials declared President Goodluck Jonathan the winner. Followers of his main opponent, former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim, quickly alleged the vote had been rigged, though observers largely declared the vote fair.