Al-Shabab aided B'Haram in Abuja Bombing

It was gathered that security agencies received intelligence reports that Al-Shabab, which carried out the West Gate Mall attack in Kenya, was planning an attack in Abuja.

Investigations revealed that operatives were still trying to verify the claim that the jailbreak might be an Al-Shabab’s idea when the Nyanya Park blast occurred.

Our source said, “We received the information two weeks before the attempted jailbreak at the headquarters of the Department of State Services in Abuja.

“What we got was that those who carried out the Kenyan Mall attack were up to something in Abuja.

“So when the jailbreak at the SSS occurred, we thought that could be their mission to the country.

“What happened on Monday last week seems to suggest that they had a hand in it because we had the information two weeks before that foiled jailbreak.”

Another security source, who also spoke with The PUNCH on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to do so, said   that   Nigerian soldiers, during some of their operations against Boko Haram, had killed some foreigners suspected to be members of Al-Shabab.

He said that “the support of Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda for Boko Haram, until recently, was initially restricted to providing technical assistance such as training as well as arms and ammunition.”

The source stated that the revelations were considered interesting by the military since they would aid   in planning for future operations.

He said, “All along, we had been suspecting the hand of international terror organisations in the fight; most of the patterns of these attacks indicated their involvement.

“I can confirm to you that several of such foreigners with strange features have been killed.”

Reacting to the belief that al-Shabab was fighting along with Boko Haram, a former Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Tsav, said such would compound the crisis in Nigeria.

 The United Kingdom Daily Star had  quoted security sources as saying last  Tuesday that a British-born Al-Shabab operative, Samantha Lewthwaite, might have had a hand in  the Nyanya attack to avenge the killing of Al-Shabab’s terror leader, Makaburi (aka Sheikh Abubakar   Ahmed), a fortnight ago by  the Kenyan Anti-terror Police Unit.