Here's am AP report from today.
LAGOS, Nigeria - U.S. and other Western installations in Nigeria are at risk of terrorist attack, the U.S. Embassy said Thursday, although an embassy official said no specific threat had prompted the announcement.
Nigeria, which has never suffered an attack by an international terrorist organization, is a top supplier of foreign oil for the United States as it seeks alternative sources of crude amid turmoil in the Middle East.
Days ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the U.S. Embassy said in an e-mail to U.S. citizens here that "the U.S. Mission in Nigeria has received information that U.S. and other Western interests in Nigeria are currently at risk for terrorist attacks."
"Potential targets include official and commercial installations in Abuja and Lagos," the capital and main commercial center, it said in a consular message.
A U.S. Embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the warning reflected general security concerns amid news of a terror plot in Germany and the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
"This does not suggest that we have hard evidence that anything is happening," said the official. When asked if there was any known terrorist plot against foreign targets in Nigeria, the official replied: "Absolutely not."
"This was considered prudent because 9/11 is approaching, and particularly after what we've seen in Germany yesterday," said the official.
The statement didn't indicate which terror organization might be behind any attacks in Nigeria, a country of about 140 million citizens roughly evenly split between Muslims and Christians. Nigerian officials had no immediate comment.
While Nigeria in the west has not seen an attack, east Africa has. International terrorists linked to al-Qaida were blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
In a statement attributed to al-Qaida terror network leader Osama bin Laden in recent years, Nigeria was targeted for liberation. Nigeria's president at that time was a Christian, while current President Umaru Yar'Adua is a Muslim who was governor of one the 12 states across the north where an Islamic civil code was installed in 2000.
Nigeria is a secular nation where opinion polls consistently show widespread admiration of America and the country's military and civilian administrations have generally been considered pro-West.
However, security forces in Nigeria are often ill-equipped and prone to bribe-taking, meaning law enforcement is weak. The country's northern border runs along the edge of the Sahara Desert - a vast, unguarded space where U.S. officials say al-Qaida-linked militants operate.
German authorities said Wednesday they had arrested three Islamic militants suspected of plotting massive bomb attacks.
"It is possible that a certain motivation (of the plotters) can be attributed to this (Sept. 11) anniversary," said German Federal Prosecutor Rainer Griesbaum - although he added that there was no concrete evidence yet of a link.
On Tuesday, eight men - of Pakistani, Afghan, Somali and Turkish origin - were arrested in Denmark. Authorities said the men were linked to senior al-Qaida leaders, but have not revealed what their targets were, or when they planned to strike.
Wolfgang Bosbach, a key member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing Christian Democratic Union, added in comments to N-24 television that: "When you leaf through a calendar, it's only a matter of hours until Sept. 11."
In Nigeria, the embassy warned U.S. citizens to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings at all times, saying "analysis has shown that individuals who appear to take basic personal security measures are often passed over by terrorist groups as a potential target."
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