O.T. SSS Aborts Al-Qaeda Attacks in Nigeria
From Ike Abonyi in Abuja, 11.12.2007
Security reports at the weekend indicate that Nigeria may have been saved the horror of major terrorist attacks following the arrest of suspected terrorists believed to have links to the dreaded Al-Qaeda network.
THISDAY gathered last night that operatives of the State Security Services (SSS) who had been on the trail of some religious militants in Northern part of the country have aborted the intended attacks.
The group, according to the security source, was responsible for the recent attacks on police stations and some neighbourhoods in parts of the country.
The suspects were arrested in Kano, Kaduna and Yobe states with explosive-making devices, including bags of fertiliser and some quantities of firearms.
Sources at the SSS attributed the success in the operation that led to the arrest of the suspects to the recent changes in the service, especially the re-organisation and strengthening of the Anti-Terrorism Department and the prioritisation of the operational focus of the intelligence body.
As at last night, it was not clear where and how the militants wanted to attack but a source said some Western interests in the country might have been their target.
Operatives are also looking into the possibility of the group having backers from religious groups in the country.
THISDAY gathered that since the change in leadership of the country as well as the SSS, some changes have been aimed at repositioning the service for “more responsiveness and more professionalism”.
Efforts to get more information on the operation regarding the names and photographs of the arrested religious militants last night proved abortive.
Spokesman of SSS, Mr. Ado Muazu, confirmed the arrest and said suspects were in custody in Abuja.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, is said to be in the US currently discussing the issue of terrorism on the invitation of the American government.
Since the terrorism war became full blown, Nigeria has not recorded any case in spite of continuous warning from European Union and the United States of America (USA) to their citizens against possible attacks by the religious militants.
Just before this year’s commemoration of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US by the Al-Qaeda Network, the American Consulate in Lagos had raised alarm over a threat on Western and US interests in Nigeria.
In June 2005, a similar warning had led to the closure of embassies in Lagos and Abuja for some days, a move which a US military spokesperson, Major Holly Silkman, speaking from Dakar, Senegal, had confirmed thus: "There was some kind of threat made and it was through telephone call."
This year, the US mission said it had received information that American and other Western interests in the country were at risk. It did not give the name of any group behind the plot.
A press statement issued then by the Consulate said potential targets included diplomatic buildings and businesses in Abuja and Lagos.
Also, last month, SSS operatives arrested two men in Kano suspected to be members of Al-Qaeda. The men whose names were given as Abubakar Haruna and Isah A. were said to be in their twenties.
They were picked up in Kano following weeks of intense intelligence gathering linking them with visits to several countries suspected to have contacts with known terrorist networks, particularly, Algeria.
