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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Adul Farouk Abdulmutallab's Nigeria Seen As Home To Growing Al-Qaeda Threat

Adul Farouk Abdulmutallab's Nigeria Seen As Home To Growing Al-Qaeda Threat

December 26, 2009

Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab's Nigeria Seen As Home To Growing Al-Qaeda Threat

December 26, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Suspected terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab's attempt to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight #253 represents at least the 10th domestic Islamic terror plot this year.

Though Abdulmutallab had apparently come to the attention of U.S. security officials earlier, he was not on any known "no fly" list.

More shocking however, Abdulmutallab's father Alhaji Umaru Mutallab a former Nigerian banker, is said to have notified U.S. officials that he felt his son represented a threat to the United States because of his Muslim extremism and that he was surprised that his son was allowed to enter the country under any circumstances.

"Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, former chairman off [sic] Nigeria's First Bank, was said to be worried about his son's increasingly 'extreme' religious views, a Nigerian newspaper reported." [source, NY Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/12/26/2009-12-26_father_of_umar_farouk_abdul_mutallab_nigerian_terror_suspect_in_flight_253_attac.html]

The younger Abdulmutalab's country of origin Nigeria, the most populous in Africa has been the scene of long time tensions pitting the mostly Muslim North against the Christian South.

Most of Nigeria's Muslims adhere to the Sufi sect, considered to be less contentious and dogmatic than other forms of Islam. Probably mindful of Nigeria's great oil wealth it has nonetheless become a target of Sunni extremists [Salafists] from outside the country, hence al-Qaeda has been making inroads and establishing terrorist cells.

"The growth of al-Qaeda cells in Nigeria, particularly in the fertile breeding ground of the north, give evidence of the growing radical Islamic threat in the country. The increase in Islamic militancy and government corruption and weakness entice al-Qaeda to step up activity in the country.

Radical Muslims have already struck at the state in attacks on police stations. In September 40 armed insurgents assaulted a police station, killing its commander and two other officers. Several other police stations have also been assault targets. Al-Qaeda usage of Nigeria as a communications hub is also evidence of al-Qaeda aggression in Nigeria.

The capture of al-Qaeda information systems operative in Pakistan led investigators to Nigerian web sites and e-mail systems used by al-Qaeda to diseminate [sic] information and instructions. Again, the weakness of the central government with no regulatory policy over the telecommunications industry in the country is what drew al-Qaeda to Nigeria. The breakup of the Nigeria state is a real threat because of al-Qaeda." [source, Al-Qaeda's Secret Plan for Africa: Terrorise, Divide, Seize, http://allafrica.com/stories/200501311197.html - requires subscription - alternative link, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1336346/posts]

U.S. officials have not yet disclosed the extent to which there are linkages between Abdulmutallab and Sunni extremists, but the MO of the attempted attack yesterday bears all of the attributes of having been an al-Qaeda operation and the country was specifically named by bin-Laden in 2003 as being of interest. [source, ibid]

http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=nigeria12.26.09%2Ehtm

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