http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1415394
(AP)
“Police search for 2 men who fled shooting in van”
June 4, 2008 - 4:59pm
SUITLAND, Md. -
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Tippett says the two suspects appeared to be wearing service uniforms and traveling in a white van, which had ladders and cones on top. It’s unclear who owned the van.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/nigeria
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http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2374232
(TERRORISM MONITOR)
“Nigeria and the Threat of al-Qaeda Terrorism”
By Bestman Wellington
(June 12, 2008)
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Not long ago, Mike Mbama Okiro, Nigeria’s inspector general of police, raised an alarm over threats by al-Qaeda to launch an attack using time-bombs on Nigerian soil. Okiro’s warning generated much attention in local and international media. Islamic groups in Nigeria, including the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN), held several press conferences debunking such claims, and labeled Okiro a “liar.” The police chief did not give more details about his allegation, but said his warning was based on intelligence reports. An SCSN spokesman said: “The police know where the terrorists are and Muslims should not be referred to as terrorists. The militants are terrorists for kidnapping and killing people and the police should go there and stop tagging Muslims as terrorists” (Nigerian Tribune, May 21).
Later a Nigerian newspaper quoted a police high command statement asking Nigerians to disregard recent media reports on the purported threats from al-Qaeda: “For the avoidance of doubt, the Inspector General of Police’s only public pronouncement on terrorism was on 10th March, 2008 during the inauguration of the anti-terrorism squad when he said, ‘The creation of the new outfit is borne out of our mission to safeguard our environment against terrorism, even though the nation has not experienced terrorist attack; we don’t have to wait until it happens before we start to prepare.’ ” (This Day [Lagos], May 20). Despite the apparent reversal on the threat assessment, special Nigerian anti-terrorist squads were deployed to Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt (Panapress, May 14).
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with over 140 million people, roughly split equally between Christians and Muslims.”