LAGOS: A blast last month in Apapa, the port district of Nigeria’s financial capital Lagos, which the authorities said was a gas explosion, was a bomb attack, an AFP investigation has revealed. The perpetrators have not been identified but the June 25 bombing may have been the first attack in Lagos linked to Boko Haram, the rebels who have killed thousands across the north and centre of the country during a five-year uprising. Lagos is the hub of Nigeria’s economy, which is Africa’s largest, and an insurgency in the city could cripple the nation.

The lack of violence in Lagos has been among the most hotly debated subjects throughout the Boko Haram conflict.