Nigeria leader in terror pledge
Source: Agencies |
August 28, 2011, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NIGERIA'S president vowed yesterday to bring terrorism "under control" as he visited the bombed headquarters of the United Nations in his country, a day after at least 19 people died in an attack claimed by a radical Muslim sect.
President Goodluck Jonathan walked amid the debris left behind after Friday's attack in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. Jonathan toured the shattered reception area of the building, where a suicide bomber crashed an explosive-laden sedan before detonating his bombs.
He promised to address the threat posed by the sect known locally as Boko Haram, though so far, his weakened government has been unable to stop the group from carrying out assassinations and bombings at will in Africa's most populous nation.
"Boko Haram is a local group linked up with terrorist activities," Jonathan told journalists gathered at the site. "As a government, we are working on this and we will bring it under control."
The president did not elaborate on the statement, as his aides hustled him off into a convoy of armored Mercedes Benz sedans, police trucks and motorcycles.
The death toll for the attack rose to 19 yesterday, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Previously, officials said as many as 60 people wounded in the attack sought care at one nearby hospital alone.
Security appeared tighter than normal in Abuja, about 880 kilometers from the country's megacity of Lagos. Soldiers wearing flak jackets blocked the main highway heading into the city from Abuja's international airport yesterday morning, checking passing vehicles.
The UN headquarters sits on a hill overlooking the same neighborhood occupied by the United States embassy and other diplomatic posts in Abuja. A US embassy car carrying what local authorities described as FBI agents arrived at the bomb site a short time after Jonathan left.
Deb MacLean, a US embassy spokeswoman, said FBI agents "were on the ground" to assist after the bombing.
Friday's blast is a major escalation of the Boko Haram's fight against Nigeria's weak government. The group, which has reported links to al-Qaida, wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law in the nation and is vehemently opposed to Western education and culture.
President Goodluck Jonathan walked amid the debris left behind after Friday's attack in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. Jonathan toured the shattered reception area of the building, where a suicide bomber crashed an explosive-laden sedan before detonating his bombs.
He promised to address the threat posed by the sect known locally as Boko Haram, though so far, his weakened government has been unable to stop the group from carrying out assassinations and bombings at will in Africa's most populous nation.
"Boko Haram is a local group linked up with terrorist activities," Jonathan told journalists gathered at the site. "As a government, we are working on this and we will bring it under control."
The president did not elaborate on the statement, as his aides hustled him off into a convoy of armored Mercedes Benz sedans, police trucks and motorcycles.
The death toll for the attack rose to 19 yesterday, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Previously, officials said as many as 60 people wounded in the attack sought care at one nearby hospital alone.
Security appeared tighter than normal in Abuja, about 880 kilometers from the country's megacity of Lagos. Soldiers wearing flak jackets blocked the main highway heading into the city from Abuja's international airport yesterday morning, checking passing vehicles.
The UN headquarters sits on a hill overlooking the same neighborhood occupied by the United States embassy and other diplomatic posts in Abuja. A US embassy car carrying what local authorities described as FBI agents arrived at the bomb site a short time after Jonathan left.
Deb MacLean, a US embassy spokeswoman, said FBI agents "were on the ground" to assist after the bombing.
Friday's blast is a major escalation of the Boko Haram's fight against Nigeria's weak government. The group, which has reported links to al-Qaida, wants to implement a strict version of Shariah law in the nation and is vehemently opposed to Western education and culture.
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