BOMB BLAST IN ABUJA: 21 KILLED

A bomb attack on a busy shopping district in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, has killed at least 21 people and injured 52 more.

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

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

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

12 bodies of men and women at the mortuary at the Maimata District Hospital, which is a few kilometres from the site of the blast.

Doctors and nurses were treating dozens of wounded - many of them for burns on their faces, hands and legs. The security forces were trying to keep order as relatives and friends rushed to the hospital to find out about the fate of their loved ones.

One little boy, with bloodstains on his forehead. He was sobbing and looking for his mother.

A stranger brought him to the hospital after finding him, alone and disoriented, near the blast site. He got separated from his mother when the explosion ripped through the area. The boy did not know whether she was alive or dead, but the man looking after him feared the worst.