U.N. not deterred by Nigeria bomb-deputy chief

Reuters

28 August 2011

U.N. not deterred by Nigeria bomb-deputy chief

United Nations (U.N.) Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro (C) gestures to a man injured in Friday's suicide attack on the U.N. headquarters, as she visits victims of the blast at the intensive care unit of the national hospital in Abuja August 28, 2011. REUTERS/Rebecca Blackwell/Pool

* Death toll rises to 23, dozens wounded

* Islamist sect suspected by security sources

* U.N. no. 2 Migiro says investigation into bombing under way (Recasts with Migiro news conference)

By Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Aug 28 (Reuters) - U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro vowed the United Nations would not be deterred from its work on Sunday, after visiting survivors of a bombing at its Nigeria headquarters that killed at least 23 people.

Friday’s car bomb targeting the U.N. compound in Abuja blew out windows, gutted a lower floor and set the building alight in one of the most lethal attacks on the world body in its history. Migiro said 73 were wounded, and four of the most seriously injured were evacuated to South Africa.

There was no confirmed claim of responsibility for the attack but security sources suspect the violent Islamist sect Boko Haram, which has been blamed for almost daily bomb and gun attacks on security forces and civilians in the northeast.

"Such attacks will neither deter us in our work nor win any new sympathisers to whatever (their) cause might be ... We cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated by terrorists," Migiro told a news conference in the Nigerian capital.

"There can be no justification for terrorism. The perpetrators must be brought to justice."