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Arrests failed to prevent UN bombing
Source: Agencies |
September 1, 2011, Thursday
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DAYS before a car bombing at the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria that killed 23 people, the country's secret police arrested two men suspected of organizing the attack, raising questions about why the bombing was not averted.
A State Security Service's statement to journalists said it is also seeking a third suspect with "al--Qaida links" who has recently returned from Somalia.
It offered new evidence that the radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for last Friday's attack on the UN, has ties to al-Qaida affiliated terror elsewhere in Africa.
The agency said it received word on August 18 about a possible car bomb attack in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. Ten days ago police said they had arrested Babagana Ismail Kwaljima and Babagan Mali, two men they said had ties to Boko Haram and were planning the attack.
Last Friday, a suicide bomber rammed two sets of gates to reach the UN building's glass reception hall. There the bomber detonated explosives powerful enough to bring down parts of the concrete structure and blow out glass windows from other buildings in the quiet neighborhood filled with diplomatic posts.
The secret police said the two men are being held at a military base. "The suspects have made valuable statements," the agency said.
Marilyn Ogar, a spokeswoman for the secret police, declined to comment when asked why the agency could not stop the bombing.
The State Security Service, the agency responsible for domestic intelligence, has operatives who focus primarily on political opposition or secessionists. The agency also routinely detains journalists and government critics.
The agency has also been criticized in the past by the US. In a diplomatic cable released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, US officials recounted how secret police operatives came close to allowing a suspected bomb maker identified by Interpol to board an international flight. Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed now faces terrorism charges in New York.
The secret police "not only knew about the Interpol notice, but simply said they did not want to hold him any longer," the cable reads.
Earlier this month, the commander for US military operations in Africa said Boko Haram may be trying to coordinate attacks with al-Shabab in Somalia and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates in northwest Africa.
The agency said a third suspect, Mamman Nur, remained at large, adding: "Investigation has revealed that once Mamman Nur, a notorious Boko Haram element with al-Qaida links who returned recently from Somalia, (worked) in concert with the two suspects (in) masterminding the attack on the United Nations building in Abuja."
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law and has carried out increasingly bloody sectarian attacks targeting the nation's weak central government.
A State Security Service's statement to journalists said it is also seeking a third suspect with "al--Qaida links" who has recently returned from Somalia.
It offered new evidence that the radical Muslim sect known locally as Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for last Friday's attack on the UN, has ties to al-Qaida affiliated terror elsewhere in Africa.
The agency said it received word on August 18 about a possible car bomb attack in Abuja, the Nigerian capital. Ten days ago police said they had arrested Babagana Ismail Kwaljima and Babagan Mali, two men they said had ties to Boko Haram and were planning the attack.
Last Friday, a suicide bomber rammed two sets of gates to reach the UN building's glass reception hall. There the bomber detonated explosives powerful enough to bring down parts of the concrete structure and blow out glass windows from other buildings in the quiet neighborhood filled with diplomatic posts.
The secret police said the two men are being held at a military base. "The suspects have made valuable statements," the agency said.
Marilyn Ogar, a spokeswoman for the secret police, declined to comment when asked why the agency could not stop the bombing.
The State Security Service, the agency responsible for domestic intelligence, has operatives who focus primarily on political opposition or secessionists. The agency also routinely detains journalists and government critics.
The agency has also been criticized in the past by the US. In a diplomatic cable released by the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, US officials recounted how secret police operatives came close to allowing a suspected bomb maker identified by Interpol to board an international flight. Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed now faces terrorism charges in New York.
The secret police "not only knew about the Interpol notice, but simply said they did not want to hold him any longer," the cable reads.
Earlier this month, the commander for US military operations in Africa said Boko Haram may be trying to coordinate attacks with al-Shabab in Somalia and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates in northwest Africa.
The agency said a third suspect, Mamman Nur, remained at large, adding: "Investigation has revealed that once Mamman Nur, a notorious Boko Haram element with al-Qaida links who returned recently from Somalia, (worked) in concert with the two suspects (in) masterminding the attack on the United Nations building in Abuja."
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law and has carried out increasingly bloody sectarian attacks targeting the nation's weak central government.
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