The blast, near the popular Banex plaza¹ shopping complex in Wuse district, could be heard from miles away and sent plumes² of smoke into the air.

 

Police say a suspect has been arrested. No group has claimed responsibility. 

 

Islamist militant³ group Boko Haram has bombed targets in Abuja and across northern Nigeria recently.

 

Chiamaka Oham, who was near the site of the blast, told the BBC: "We heard a really loud noise and the building shook, and people started screaming and running out.

 

"We saw the smoke and people covered in blood. It was just chaos⁴."

 

The area was packed with shoppers at the time of the blast, the BBC's Hausa service editor Mansur Liman reports.

 

Many cars outside the shopping complex were burnt out and many windows were shattered, he adds. 

 

One man told the BBC his driver was killed in the blast: "I was in the complex when I saw that the ground was shaking. I saw my driver dead and a lot of casualties." 

 

Government spokesman Mike Omeri confirmed that the blast was the result of a bomb attack.

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