MEND slaps Jonathan's Government

As Explosions kill at least 7 at a National event


 BASHIR ADIGUN and JON GAMBRELL

Two car bombs blew up on Friday as Nigeria celebrated its 50th
independence anniversary, killing at least seven people in an
unprecedented attack on the capital by militants from the country's
oil region.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the main
militant group in the country's oil-rich southern delta, had
threatened to attack the festivities and warned people to stay away.

"For 50 years, the people of the Niger Delta have had their land and
resources stolen from them," the group said in a statement. While
Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, is oil rich most people live
on less than $1 a day. The delta is very impoverished and polluted
from spills.

A third and smaller explosion hit a venue at Eagle Square where
President Goodluck Jonathan stood with other dignitaries, about a
10-minute walk from where the car bombs detonated. A security agent
was apparently injured in that blast heard by an Associated Press
reporter, though the militant group later denied placing any
explosives in the venue.

Friday's attacks were the militants' boldest yet, striking in
Nigeria's capital during an event with heavy security held hundreds of
miles (kilometers) from the delta.

The car bombings seemed designed to lure first-responders and then
kill them with a second blast. Five minutes after the first vehicle
exploded, the second went off, killing at least seven people, a police
officer told an AP reporter at the scene. At least one of the dead was
a policeman, the officer said. The officer spoke on the condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Inside Eagle Square, an AP reporter saw a small explosive detonate
before members of the military gathered there. A security agent was
seen lying on the ground near that blast.

The anniversary ceremony continued without interruption.

In a statement Friday afternoon to the AP, the militant group
acknowledged that it knew allowing the second car bomb to detonate
would put passers-by at risk.

We "warned the authorities ahead of time who decided to ignore the
warning and alert the public," the group said. It added: "The blame
goes to the Nigerian authorities and our message to the families of
those who may have been affected is that we deeply regret any loss of
life."

Upset by oil spills and the region's unceasing poverty, militants in
the delta have targeted pipelines, kidnapped petroleum company workers
and fought government troops since 2006. That violence drastically
subsided after a government-sponsored amnesty deal last year provided
cash for fighters and the promise of job training. However, many
ex-fighters now complain that the government has failed to fulfill its
promises.

In March, MEND detonated two car bombs near a government building in
the Niger Delta where officials were discussing the amnesty deal,
wounding two people in an attack heard live on television.

In April 2006, MEND claimed responsibility for attacks on an army
barracks and an oil refinery during which two people were killed. It
also detonated a car bomb outside a state governor's office in
December 2006.

The attacks Friday come a day after it says security agencies in South
Africa raided the home of its former leader Henry Okah. Okah was freed
from a Nigerian jail in July 2009 after the nation's attorney general
dropped the treason and gun running charges he was facing. He later
moved to Johannesburg.

The militant group said Okah's house was raided after the Nigerian
government "sent a false petition claiming Okah planned to overthrow
the government and other claims." Police in South Africa could not
confirm any raid took place at Okah's home.

Nigeria, which has had only a decade of continuous democracy since it
gained its independence from Britain in 1960, is one of the top crude
oil suppliers to the U.S. Last year, attacks by militants led to a
sharp drop in oil production, allowing Angola to replace Nigeria as
Africa's No. 1 exporter.