Military

DATE=02/02/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=NIGERIA-EXPLOSION (S)

NUMBER=2-299129

BYLINE=LUIS RAMIREZ

DATELINE=ABIDJAN

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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INTRO: A powerful explosion has ripped through the center of Nigeria's main city, Lagos, killing at least 20 people. V-O-A's Luis Ramirez reports from our West Africa Bureau in Abidjan.

TEXT: The blast ripped the front off a building housing a branch of a major commercial bank on Lagos Island, in the heart of the Nigeria's main city. The building also housed a number of apartments.

Residents from surrounding apartment buildings ran through the streets amid fear that other structures in the area might collapse.

Ambulances scrambled to get to the wreckage, where volunteers were working to get out the dead and wounded.

The cause of the explosion in Lagos was not clear. Nigerian authorities said they are not ruling out a criminal act.

Witnesses at the scene said they saw looters going into the ruins of the building to look for cash in the damaged bank branch. (SIGNED)

NEB/LR/DW/RAE/JP