Nigeria twin blast: 71 killed, 124 injured,

Twin blasts today at a bus station on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital crammed with morning commuters killed 71 people and injured 124 others, police said.

"We have a total of 71 dead and 124 others injured. (The wounded) are receiving treatment at hospitals within and around" Abuja, national police spokesman Frank Mba told journalists at the scene.

The blast ripped a hole 4 feet deep (1.2 metres) in the ground of Nyanya Motor Park about 16 kilometres from the city center and destroyed more than 30 vehicles, causing secondary explosions as their fuel tanks ignited and burned.

There was no official comment or an immediate claim for today's explosion though bus stations are a favored target of Nigeria's Islamic extremists.

The Islamic extremists have been threatening to attack the capital, in the middle of the country and hundreds of miles from its traditional base in the northeast, where it has killed nearly 1,500 people this year.

The Boko Haram terrorist network last attacked the capital in 2011 when it claimed a suicide bombing by two explosives-laden cars that drove into the lobby of the United Nations office building in Abuja. It killed at least 21 people and wounded 60.