WORLD CUP NEWS: Car Bomb
DAMATURU, Nigeria (AP) — Police in Nigeria say the explosion that killed at least 14 people at an illegal World Cup viewing site was the result of a car bomb.
More than two dozen other people were injured in the blast as soccer fans were watching the Brazil-Mexico match.
Police say the viewing sites were banned in the area where the explosion took place, because they have become a target of the armed Islamic group Boko Haram (BOH’-koh hah-RAHM’). Security experts have warned that Islamic militants might attack crowds watching the World Cup in public places in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, as they did in 2010 in Uganda.
Witnesses had said a suicide bomber drove a tricycle taxi packed with explosives into the area. But police say the bomb was in a car that was parked and abandoned on the road in front.
Meanwhile, security forces have arrested a man described as a “terror kingpin.” He was among nearly 500 people detained as suspected terrorists in southeastern Nigeria.
