ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria will bring terrorism “under control” and confront the radical Muslim sect that claimed responsibility for a deadly car bombing Friday at the country’s United Nations headquarters, its president vowed Saturday amid the wreckage.
The death toll for the attack rose to 19 on Saturday, according to Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency.
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President Goodluck Jonathan stepped through shattered glass and past dried pools of blood at the damaged building as U.N. employees salvaged printers, computers and other equipment to keep the mission running.
The U.N.’s top official in Nigeria promised that humanitarian aid would keep flowing through the world body to Africa’s most populous nation, even though the Boko Haram sect — which claimed responsibility for the attack — views it as a target.
“I think it gives us more strength to continue helping the population,” said Agathe Lawson, the U.N.’s acting resident coordinator in Nigeria.
Jonathan walked by the battered exit gate the suicide bomber rammed through to reach the massive U.N. building’s glass reception hall Friday morning.
There, the bomber detonated explosives powerful enough to bring down parts of the concrete structure and blow out glass windows from other buildings in the quiet neighborhood filled with diplomatic posts.
Bodyguards, police, soldiers and members of the country’s secret police surrounded Jonathan on his tour of the site. The soft-spoken president promised journalists gathered there that the nation would stand up to terrorism, though Boko Haram continues to carry out bombings and assassinations.
“Terrorist attacks on any individual or part of the world is a terrorist attack on the rest of the world,” Jonathan said. “Terrorists don’t care about who is anywhere.”
Jonathan did not say who was responsible for the attack, only mentioning Boko Haram in response to a reporter’s question.
“Boko Haram is a local group linked up with terrorist activities,” he said. “As a government, we are working on this and we will bring it under control.”
The president did not elaborate on that comment, as his aides hustled him away.
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