PLOT TO BOMB ABUJA AGAIN UNCOVERED

PLOT TO BOMB ABUJA AGAIN UNCOVERED

Security operatives in Abuja have alerted residents to be security conscious and avoid crowded areas, malls, including recreational centres as plans to detonate explosives at various locations in the city by the radical Islamic sect, Boko Haram, have been uncovered.

A highly placed Nigerian security intelligence officer, who disclosed this to our Correspondent in a telephone chat, added that the general public and Abuja residents had been alerted already about the plot.

The report said, “There are plans by Boko Haram to launch deadly and massive attacks, much more than the Nyanya own on Tuesday and Wednesday in Abuja.

Though cautionary measures have been taken by security agencies in the country to avert possible materialization of this plot, it is advisable for members of the public to be wary and take personal caution about their safety.

“We have informed all members of the public and residents of Abuja of the satanic plot by enemies of this country through SMS, Blackberry broadcast messages and through personal contact briefing.”

It was learnt that the Nigerian military intelligence operatives had uncovered the plot on Monday. “We have been working closely together with all other security agencies in the country and this is really paying off. There is this understanding now that we have a common enemy and must unite together to fight it,” our source said.

Boko Haram, in April this year, took Abuja by storm when they launched two deadly attacks in Nyanya, a densely populated area in the outskirt of Abuja.

The attack claimed more than 200 lives.

Nigeria’s intelligence agency said it had also been warning shopping complexes in Abuja for two weeks that Islamic extremists might attack them in the capital where a blast at a mall killed 22 people this week.

The increased security may have prevented even more carnage, as witnesses said a security guard stopped a car bomber from entering the mall moments before the massive explosion last Wednesday.

Survivor Donald Chikason had told our Correspondent that a security guard argued with the driver of a car who wanted to enter Emab Plaza through the exit gate. When the guard refused, the man bent down and moments later the car exploded.

Chikason, who works at a bank in the mall, was knocked out by the blast and only regained consciousness in the hospital.

The explosion was heard miles (kilometers) away. It set 17 vehicles ablaze and shattered windows throughout the four-story complex.

Body parts lay around the exit gate, other witnesses told The Associated Press.

Dozens of wounded survivors were recovering in the hospitals.

Nigerian intelligence received information that Boko Haram extremists were planning such an attack, said spokeswoman of the Department of State Security, Marilyn Ogar.
“About two weeks ago we heard information that they were planning an attack at a busy shopping mall or market … and so we had to go from one shopping complex to another trying to tell people to be more aware,” she told The Associated Press.

Emab Plaza is the biggest and busiest in Abuja, the nation’s capital in central Nigeria. The explosion occurred around rush hour as many residents were hurrying to view Nigeria’s Super Eagles match against Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil. It was unclear if the bomb was timed to coincide with that, although Boko Haram has bombed several football viewing venues this year.

The state security department did not publish the intelligence about the threat to shopping malls, apparently to avoid a panic. Last week, the government warned it had information that Boko Haram planned to hijack petrol tankers in the capital and booby trap them with explosives.

Also Friday, police said they defused a massive car bomb packed with 13 explosive devices outside the main mosque in Kano, Nigeria’s second city, in the north of the country. “We detonated a dangerous device which could have pulled down buildings,” police commissioner Aderenle Shinaba told reporters. “What happened in the Abuja explosion would have been child’s play if these discovered explosives had exploded at the mosque.”

He said it was timed to explode as people gathered for prayers on Friday, the main Muslim holy day.
Two separate bombs in Abuja in April killed about 120 people and wounded more than 200 at a busy bus station.

President Goodluck
Jonathan visited the scene of the latest blast and victims in the hospital on Friday, after returning home hastilyThursday night and cutting short his participation at an African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea.