9 Apr 2011

More election killings in Nigeria

10:06 am on 9 April 2011

At least six people have been killed in Nigeria on the eve of parliamentary elections.

A bomb at electoral commission offices in the central town of Suleja accounted for at least five of the dead.

Gunmen also killed four people in the northern state of Borno.

The BBC reports several other explosive devices have been defused by the security forces, who had earlier warned of a plot to disrupt the election.

Voting was supposed to begin last weekend but was delayed in some areas.

Presidential elections have been now put back a week to 16 April. Polls to choose the 36 state governors are now to be held on 26 April.

At least 85 people have been killed so far in these elections, according to the Human Rights Watch campaign group.

The BBC reports previous elections since the 1999 end of military rule were characterised by widespread fraud and violence.