At least 18 people were killed by a car bomb that ripped through the United Nations' building in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Friday -- a rare attack on an international institution in a country wracked by local conflicts.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the final casualty toll was likely to be high and Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ordered tighter security around the capital after what he called a "most despicable assault."
Security sources and witnesses said the car rammed into the building and blew up, badly damaging parts of an office complex where close to 400 people normally work for U.N. agencies.
"This was an assault on those who devote their lives to helping others," Ban said in a statement. "We condemn this terrible act, utterly."
Body parts were strewn on the ground as emergency workers, soldiers and police swarmed around the building, cordoned roads and rushed the wounded to hospital.
"Different people have been taken to different hospitals so we're not sure of casualty figures. It is at least 18," said Mike Zuokumor, Abuja police commissioner.
Norway's government said a Norwegian citizen was among the dead. She was named as Ingrid Midtgaard, a 30-year-old lawyer employed by the United Nations.
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