Nigeria bomb attacks on newspapers kill 7

[Chris michael]

Pius Utomi Ekpei / AFP/Getty Images
A Policeman stands in front of the premises of ThisDay newspapers bombed by suicide bombers early in Abuja on April 26, 2012.
One of Nigeria's leading newspaper, ThisDay was early in the day rocked by bomb explosions killing two security men, the suicide bomber and injuring five of the company's support staff. Bomb blasts targeting newspaper offices in Nigeria's capital and the northern city of Kaduna on Thursday have killed at least six people, emergency officials said.
A local emergency management spokesman in Kaduna confirmed at least three dead there, while a rescue official said at least the same number were killed in the Abuja explosion.a

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Abuja, Nigeria --

A suicide bomber and a man armed with explosives attacked two Nigerian newspaper offices Thursday, killing seven people and wounding at least 26. The radical Islamic sect Boko Haram claimed responsibility.

Boko Haram said it coordinated the attacks on Nigeria's major daily newspaper ThisDay in the capital, Abuja, and an office building it shares with two other newspapers in the city of Kaduna. It threatened to target other journalists in the future.

In Abuja, the suicide bomber rammed his car through the gates of the ThisDay office and drove into the reception area before the explosion, said Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross.

The blast killed at least three people and wounded others, Nwakpa said. The attack in Kaduna also included a car loaded with explosives at an office building ThisDay shares with the Moment and the Daily Sun newspapers. However, people at the office quickly surrounded the car, witnesses said.The driver then began shouting that there was a bomb inside the car, witness Jemilu Abdullahi said.

Those there allowed the man to open the trunk of the car and he pulled out and threw an explosive, which detonated, Abdullahi said.At least four people died in that blast, Nwakpa said. Authorities later arrested the bomber.

A spokesman for Boko Haram said it would attack media again over what the group felt was inaccurate news coverage. The sect is blamed for killing more than 440 people this year alone in its growing sectarian fight against Nigeria's weak central government.