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Nigeria Sends In Troops After 500 Killed In Religious Attacks

Associated Press — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:30:42 +0000

JOS, Nigeria (AFP) – Nigeria’s government sent in troops to the flashpoint Jos region on Monday after machete-wielding gangs attacked Christian villages, killing at least 500 people, officials say.

Police arrested scores of people in the wake of the attacks which came just weeks after another outburst of Muslim-Christian violence, which left hundreds dead.

Newspapers said Muslim residents of the villages had been warned by phone text message to escape two days before the attacks.

Witnesses meanwhile described how the victims of Sunday’s three-hour orgy of violence, mainly women and children, were caught in animal traps and fishing nets as they tried to flee their attackers, who hacked them to death.

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The official death toll was initially put at a little over 100 but Dan Manjang, an advisor to the Plateau state government, said it had shot up.

“We have been able to make 95 arrests but at the same time over 500 people have been killed in this heinous act,” Dan Manjang told AFP.

Government-run radio also reported that 500 people had been slaughtered in a raid on three villages on the fringes of Jos, capital of Plateau state.

Witnesses and local rights activists put the figure at between 200 and 250.

Much of the violence was centred around the village of Dogo Nahawa where gangs from the mainly Muslim Fulani ethnic group set fire to straw-thatched mud huts before embarking on the killing rampage in the early hours of Sunday.

Frank Tatgun, a resident of Dogo Nahawa, said that he had seen two armoured vehicles and three military trucks arrive in the village and scores of troops were now on patrol.

The explosion of violence is the latest between rival ethic and religious groups in the region. In January, 326 people died in clashes in Jos, according to police although rights activists put the overall toll at more than 550.

A curfew which was imposed after January’s unrest is supposed to be still in place but Christian leaders said the authorities had done nothing to prevent the bloodshed.

“Shortly after the militants beseiged Dogo Nahawa …we contacted the soldiers at exactly 1:30am. But we were shocked to find out that the soldiers did not react until about 3:30am after the attackers had finished their job and left,” Plateau State Christian Elders Consulatative Forum (PSCEF) said in a statement.

“The attack is yet another jihad and provocation,” said it added.

Witnesses said armed gangs had scared the victims out of their homes by firing into the air but most of the killings were as a result of machete attacks.

Survivors said the attackers were able to separate the Fulanis from the Beroms by chanting ‘nage’, the Fulaniword for cattle. Those who failed to respond in the same language were hacked to death. One local paper said the gangs chanted “Allah Akhbar” — Arabic for “Allah is the greatest”, before breaking into homes.

Other residents said the few Muslims in the villages received SMS messages warning them to leave the area before the attack.

Many of the victims in Sunday’s attacks were hacked to death as they tried to flee into woodland.

Rights activists said the attack appeared to be in revenge for the January clashe in which mostly Muslims were killed.

“I think it’s a reprisal from the Fulanis for the earlier attacks,” said activist Shehu Sani.

Locals said the attacks were the result of a spiralling feud between the Fulani and the rival Berom clan which started out with the theft of cattle, then worsened after a deadly revenge attack.

The office of Acting President Goodluck Jonathan said the security services in Plateau and neighbouring states had been placed on red alert to ensure the violence did not spread.

Muslims & Christians Clash In Nigeria

Associated Press — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:15:31 +0000

“We have received 16 dead bodies since yesterday. Eleven of them were buried yesterday and we are conducting a funeral for the remaining five. So far we have over 300 injured people, most of them from gun shots,” the head of Jos’s central mosque, Balarabe Dawud, told AFP.

He said the 16 bodies were recovered from the scene of Sunday’s fighting in the Nassarawa Gwom area of the city, which erupted when Christians protested at the building of a mosque in the Christian-dominated district.

“So far these 16 bodies were brought from the scene of the fighting to the mosque,” he said, adding that these were in addition to the ones counted at a hospital morgue on Sunday.

“If some bodies were taken to the hospital, they should be counted separately from this 16,” Dawud explained.

The Red Cross said over 3,000 people have been displaced as a result of the fighting, but declined to give any casualty toll.

“So far we are still compiling list of casualties and displaced people. Therefore, we don’t have an exhaustive figure to give out,” the head of the Red Cross in Jos, Awwalu Mohammed, told AFP.

“However, from our records so far, we have over 3,000 displaced people, sheltering in mosques, churches and police barracks. We have also taken the injured to various hospitals in the city for treatment,” he added.

There is no official confirmation of any death toll.

Police and troops were deployed on Monday and a 12-hour dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed in the Nassarawa Gwom district after the clashes.

Security forces searched cars and people on the street for weapons, residents said.

“Security personnel have succeeded in quelling the unrest and restoring calm in the affected area of the city,” Plateau State police spokesman Mohammed Lerema told AFP.

“We have cordoned the Nassarawa Gwom district as a strategy to prevent the violence from spilling over to other parts of the city,” he said.

Jos has fast become the focus of sectarian tensions in central Nigeria, but State Information commissioner Gregory Yenlong said the disturbances had ended.

“I am happy to announce that peace has returned to the city following the restoration of law and order in Nassarawa Gwom by security agents,” he said.

He said the curfew would remain in force “to ensure that no security breach happens. The government calls on the people to go about their normal business without fear.”

The clashes began when Christian youths protested the building of a mosque in the Christian-dominated Nassarawa Gwom district. Houses and vehicles were set alight.

Under the curfew, University of Jos authorities told students to go home.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with some 150 million people, is evenly divided between the mainly Muslim north and mainly Christian south.

Jos and other central and northern areas have been plagued by religious violence.

In November 2008, hundreds of people were killed in Jos in two days of fighting triggered by a rumour that the mainly Muslim All Nigerian Peoples Party had lost a local election to the Christian dominated Peoples Democratic Party.

State officials put the death toll at about 200 but other sources gave a toll twice that figure.

Last month, at least 70 people were killed in clashes between security forces and members of a radical Islamist sect in the northern Bauchi State.

Another sect, Boko Haram, which means “Western education is a sin”, staged an insurrection in July in nearby Borno State when at least 800 people were killed as security forces crushed the unrest.

Somber Christmas Terror Suspect Pleads Not Guilty

Associated Press — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 14:33:49 +0000

DETROIT – Wearing a chain at his ankles, a somber-looking Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a U.S. airliner on Christmas said he understood the charges against him, triggering the defense of a criminal case that could lead to life in prison.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s arraignment in federal court Friday took less than five minutes and a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. The 23-year-old said little, telling the judge simply that he understood the six-count indictment he faces and the maximum penalty.

Abdulmutallab’s first court appearance came exactly two weeks after an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight in which passengers rushed to his seat and put out flames that could have caused a disaster. The FBI says Abdulmutallab tried to destroy Northwest Airlines Flight 253, which was carrying nearly 300 people, by injecting chemicals into a package of explosives concealed in his underwear.

The alleged attack has shaken up airport security worldwide. President Barack Obama considers it an attempted strike against the United States by an al-Qaida affiliate and faults his administration for not preventing it despite intelligence reports.

A grand jury this week indicted Abdulmutallab on six charges. The most serious — attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction — could land him in prison for life if convicted.

He replied “yes” when asked Friday if he understood the charges and said he had taken “some pain pills” after the judge inquired whether he had used any drugs or alcohol in the past 24 hours. Abdulmutallab, who wore a white T-shirt, khaki-style pants and tennis shoes, is being held at a federal prison in Milan, Mich. He had been treated at a hospital for burns.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Randon entered a not guilty plea for Abdulmutallab. It is routine practice in federal court for the defendant to allow the judge to enter a plea.

The defense team did not challenge the government’s request to keep Abdulmutallab in pre-trial custody. After the hearing, one of his attorneys declined to discuss the case.

“It’s just too soon in the process to make any comment,” Leroy Soles said at a nearby coffee shop. The date of the next hearing was not set.

A Detroit-area native who sat six rows in front of Abdulmutallab on the plane watched the arraignment from the courtroom gallery. Hebba Aref, who drew international attention in 2008 after being refused a seat directly behind then-candidate Obama at a Detroit rally because she was wearing a headscarf, said she wants Abdulmutallab to be “tried by the system” but also is concerned about what his case could mean.

It’s the “whole ideology out there that’s radical and misuses a beautiful religion,” said Aref, 27, a Muslim. “That’s what needs to be dealt with and deterred. … He’s just a small part of it.”

U.S. investigators say Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen. His father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in Yemen, but that threat never was fully digested by the U.S. security apparatus.

Maryam Uwais, a lawyer in Nigeria, and Mahmud Kazaure, a lawyer from Maryland, told The Associated Press they were sent by Abdulmutallab’s family to observe Friday’s hearing. Neither have a role in the case but both spoke briefly with the suspect’s legal team. They declined further comment.

Outside the courthouse, authorities set up metal barricades and limited foot traffic. One demonstrator held a sign that read: “No U.S. Rights For Terrorists.”

About 50 men and women identifying themselves as Detroit-area Muslims chanted “We are Americans” as they marched behind the barricades to denounce terrorism. About a dozen of them carried U.S. flags or signs with messages such as “Not in the name of Islam.”

Four Muslims who were part of the protest performed Friday prayers in the court’s small museum on the first floor.

“We have prayer rugs outside in the car. We could have done a show for the media,” protest organizer Majed Moughni said. “We’re doing this for God.”

VIDEO: Obama Blames Al Qaeda For Christmas Attack

Associated Press — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 15:15:29 +0000

HONOLULU — President Barack Obama laid blame Saturday on an al-Qaida affiliate for a Christmas Day terrorist attack that has prompted a top-to-bottom review of how the nation’s intelligence agencies failed to prevent the botched bombing aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.

In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path through Yemen of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253. The president also emphasized that the United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries – citing Yemen, in particular – to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the globe.

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Alleged Terrorist Known But Not Thought Of As Threat

Obama: Al Qaeda Links To Christmas Terror Attack

Associated Press — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 15:07:20 +0000

HONOLULU – President Barack Obama laid blame Saturday on an al-Qaida affiliate for a Christmas Day terrorist plot that has led to a review of how intelligence agencies failed to prevent the botched bombing aboard a Detroit-bound airliner.

In his most direct public language to date, the president described the path through Yemen of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused of trying to destroy Northwest Flight 253. The president also emphasized that the United States would continue its partnerships with friendly countries — citing Yemen, in particular — to fight terrorists and extremist groups around the globe.

Obama’s homeland security team has been piecing together just how Abdulmutallab was able to board the plane. Officials have described flaws in the system and by those executing the strategy and have delivered a preliminary assessment.

A senior administration official had said the United States was increasingly confident there was a link between Abdulmutallab and an al-Qaida affiliate, but Obama’s statement is the strongest connection between the two.

“We’re learning more about the suspect,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address that the White House released on Saturday as the president vacationed in Hawaii.

“We know that he traveled to Yemen, a country grappling with crushing poverty and deadly insurgencies. It appears that he joined an affiliate of al-Qaida, and that this group — al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula — trained him, equipped him with those explosives and directed him to attack that plane headed for America,” the president said.

Officials have said Abdulmutallab’s father warned the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son had drifted into extremism in the al-Qaida hotbed of Yemen. Abdulmutallab’s threat was only partially digested by the U.S. security apparatus and not linked with a visa history showing the young man could fly to the United States.

Obama has ordered a thorough look at the shortcomings that permitted the plot, which failed not because of U.S. actions but because the would-be attacker was unable to ignite an explosive device.

Intelligence officials prepared for what was shaping up to be uncomfortable hearings before Congress about miscommunication among anti-terror agencies and sweeping changes expected under Obama’s watch. The president has been vocal in his criticism of the agencies and against extremists who would harm the United States.

“This is not the first time this group has targeted us,” Obama said. “In recent years, they have bombed Yemeni government facilities and Western hotels, restaurants and embassies, including our embassy in 2008, killing one American.”

“So, as president, I’ve made it a priority to strengthen our partnership with the Yemeni government — training and equipping their security forces, sharing intelligence and working with them to strike al-Qaida terrorists,” he said.

The United States provided Yemen $67 million in training and support under the Pentagon’s counterterrorism program last year. Only Pakistan got more, with some $112 million.

Obama said the money had been well spent: “Training camps have been struck, leaders eliminated, plots disrupted. And all those involved in the attempted act of terrorism on Christmas must know — you too will be held to account.”

At the same time, administration officials warned this week that Obama also would hold accountable his own government. To that end, Obama has summoned homeland security officials from across the government to meet with him in the White House Situation Room on Tuesday.

Obama was expected to run the meeting and press his team on how they missed what appears to be clear connections.

Dutch And Nigerian Airports To Use Full-Body Scanners

News One — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:54:54 +0000

From CNN:

The Netherlands and Nigeria will begin using body scanners on airline passengers following the attempted terrorist attack on a U.S.-bound flight on Christmas Day, authorities in both nations said Wednesday.

The millimeter-wave body scanners will be in place at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in about three weeks and will be used on all passengers traveling to the United States, Dutch Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst told a news conference at The Hague.

“We’ve escaped a very serious attack with serious consequences, but unfortunately in this world there are individuals who do not shy away from attacks on innocent people,” she said.

Nigeria did not say when it would begin the new scans. “In combating the new threat of terrorism as unfolded recently, Nigeria will be upgrading its security screening system to 3D Total Body Imaging Scanner,” the country’s airport authority said in a statement. It gave no further details.

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OPINION: Attempted Terrorist Plot Is Bad News For Nigerians

Probe Into Airline Terror Attack Released

Associated Press — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:15:49 +0000

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Dutch government is releasing results of its investigation into the failed Christmas Day terror attack on a U.S.-bound airliner that took off from Amsterdam.

Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst is holding a press conference Wednesday to outline a probe into how 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab managed to board the Northwest Airlines flightto Detroit from Nigeria by way of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

A preliminary Dutch investigation has said that all security checks were correctly carried out in Amsterdam before the flight left and American authorities cleared the passenger list that included Abdulmutallab’s name.

Abdulmutallab smuggled explosives onto the plane but failed to successfully detonate them.

Passengers Helped Foil Attack On Detroit-Bound Plane

OPINION: Attempted Terrorist Plot Is Bad News For Nigerians

News One — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:15:14 +0000

From The Grio:

Hearing on Christmas Day that a terrorist suspect had been found attempting to detonate a device on a plane was bad news. Finding out that the suspect – Umar Farouk Abdulmutallabhad – was Nigerian was, for me and many other Nigerians, even worse.

Unfortunately, we Nigerians already have a bad reputation around the world. Fraud, corruption, e-mail scams and a whole host of other unsavory behaviors usually come to mind when people talk about Nigeria. Adding international terrorism to that list is far from what the country – which in recent years has been working hard to transform its image – and its citizens, both in Nigeria and in the diaspora, need or want. The speed with which the Nigerian government, as well as other key Nigerian organizations, condemned the incident attests to a strong desire to lessen the damaging impact of this incident.

The impact is already being felt, though. Traveling on a Nigerian passport was already hard work before Christmas Day. Those of us who are citizens of other countries (I’m British) tend not to bring out our green Nigerian passport unless absolutely necessary since the stereotypes precede us and immigration officials in the US or Europe often greet Nigerian travelers with suspicion. This incident will no doubt lead to increased scrutiny and profiling. This seems to be happening already, in fact: another Nigerian man who spent a long time in a bathroom on a plane shortly after the Christmas Day incident sparked a security alert although it turned out the length of time he spent in the bathroom was due to stomach issues. Before Christmas Day, he would have been another Nigerian man traveling on business. Now, he’s a potential terrorist.

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Search For Answers & Tighter Security After Foiled Attack

Family Of Terror Suspect Release Statement

Associated Press — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:12:51 +0000

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – The family of the Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down a U.S.-bound airliner says he disappeared while studying abroad.

In a statement released Monday morning, the family of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab says that after his “disappearance and stoppage of communications while schooling abroad,” his father reached out to Nigerian security agencies two months ago. The statement says the father then approached foreign security agencies for “their assistance to find and return him home.”

The family says: “It was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day.”

The statement did not offer any specifics on where Abdulmutallab had been.

FULL TEXT:

Our family, like the rest of the world, were woken up in the early hours of Saturday, 26th December, 2009 to the news of an attempt to blow up a plane by a young Nigerian man, who was later identified as Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab. Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab is the son of Alhaji (Dr.) Umaru AbdulMutallab, the head of this Family.

Prior to this incident, his father, having become concerned about his disappearance and stoppage of communication while schooling abroad, reported the matter to the Nigerian security agencies about two months ago, and to some foreign security agencies about a month and a half ago, then sought their assistance to find and return him home. We provided them with all the information required of us to enable them do this. We were hopeful that they would find and return him home. It was while we were waiting for the outcome of their investigation that we arose to the shocking news of that day.

The disappearance and cessation of communication which got his mother and father concerned to report to the security agencies are completely out of character and a very recent development, as before then, from very early childhood, Farouk, to the best of parental monitoring, had never shown any attitude, conduct or association that would give concern. As soon as concern arose, very recently, his parents, reported it and sought help.

The family will continue to fully cooperate with local and international security agencies towards the investigation of this matter, while we await results of the full investigation.

We, along with the whole world, are thankful to Al-Mighty God that there were no lives lost in the incident. May God continue to protect us all, amen.

Finally, as the matter is being investigated by the various agencies, and has already been mentioned in a US court, the family requests that the press should regard this as the only statement it will make for now.

Thank you.

Signed

The Mutallab Family

Abuja, Nigeria

Alleged Terrorist Known But Not Thought A Threat

Associated Press — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:20:37 +0000

WASHINGTON – The alleged Christmas Day terrorist had been in one of the U.S. government’s many terror databases since November, which is when his father brought him to the attention of embassy officials in Nigeria.

However, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab came to the attention of intelligence officials months before that, according to a U.S. government official involved in the investigation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because it is ongoing.

Still, none of the information the government had on Abdulmutallab rose to the level of putting him on the official terror watch list or no-fly list. On Christmas Eve, the 23-year-old Nigerian — who later claimed to law enforcement that he was operating on orders from al-Qaida — was able to carry a concealed explosive device onto a U.S.-bound airplane.

Officials warn it is still early in the investigation. But lawmakers are already calling for hearings, and the government may order a review. As President Barack Obama received regular updates on the investigation from his staff, his national security and policy aides have been asking whether the policies the U.S. has in place are working. These internal discussions marked the informal start to what will likely become a formal executive branch inquiry into an attack that failed because the bomb did not go off as planned and not because the intelligence community stopped it.

Passenger accounts and law enforcement officials describe the events around the Christmas Day attack this way:

On December 24, Abdulmutallab traveled from Nigeria to Amsterdamand then on to Detroit with an explosive device attached to his body.

Part of the device contained PETN, or pentaerythritol, and was hidden in a condom or condom-like bag just below Abdulmutallab’s torso. PETN is the same material convicted shoe bomber Richard Reid used when he tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes. Abdulmutallab also had a syringe filled with liquid.

As the plane approached Detroit, Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom for 20 minutes. When he returned to his seat, he complained of an upset stomach and covered himself with a blanket.

Passengers heard a popping noise, similar to a firecracker. They smelled an odor, and some passengers saw Abdulmutallab’s pant leg and the wall of the airplane on fire. Passengers and the flight crew used blankets and fire extinguishers to quell the flames. They restrained Abdulmutallab, who later told a flight attendant he had an “explosive device” in his pocket. He was seen holding a partially melted syringe.

The airplane landed in Detroit shortly after the incident.

On Saturday, federal officials charged the young man with trying to destroy the airplane. A conviction on the charge could bring Abdulmutallab up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman read Abdulmutallab the charges in a conference room at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the former London university student is undergoing burn treatment. Abdulmutallab smiled as he was wheeled into the room, his left thumb and right wrist bandaged and part of the skin on the thumb was burned off.

Abdulmutallab claimed to have received training and instructions from al-Qaida operatives in Yemen, law enforcement officials said. He is also believed to have had Internet contact with militant Islamic radicals.

While intelligence officials said Saturday that they are taking seriously Abdulmutallab’s claims that the plot originated with al-Qaida’s network inside Yemen, several added that they had to yet to see independent confirmation. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is incomplete.

Four weeks ago, Abdulmutallab’s father told the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that he was concerned about his son’s religious beliefs. This information was passed on to U.S. intelligence officials.

Abdulmutallab received a valid U.S. visa in June 2008 that is good through 2010.

His is one of about 550,000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, known as TIDE, which is maintained by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center and was created in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Intelligence officials said they lacked enough information to place him in the 400,000-person terror watch list or on the no-fly list of fewer than 4,000 people who should be blocked from air travel.