Army arrests politician in connection with explosives
Kaduna - Nigerian soldiers arrested a politician in northern Kaduna
state on Tuesday after finding weapons and explosives in a raid on his
house in a region frequently targeted by Islamist militants.
President
Goodluck Jonathan has said politicians have ties with Islamist groups
like Boko Haram, a sect which has killed hundreds in a two-year-long
insurgency.
Security experts believe politicians use groups like Boko Haram or criminal gangs to unsettle opponents.
"Following
intelligence report a raid was carried out at the residence of
Honourable Hussaini Dei Dei," Kaduna Army Spokesperson Tagbo Chucks Ude
told reporters.
Ude said they found improvised explosive devices,
detonator cord, remote control switches, chemicals, six AK 47 rifles, a
light machine gun, a teargas launcher and piles of ammunition.
He
said two men, two women and five children were arrested at the house,
including Dei Dei, a politician who has run in local elections in the
capital Abuja for an opposition party.
Nigeria has been plagued
by guerilla style gun and bomb attacks across the mostly Muslim north
for two years and recently Islamists have begun mass kidnappings of
foreigners.
Boko Haram, a splintered group without a coherent
command structure, is blamed for most attacks, which often target the
military, police, politicians, banks and religious events.
Gunmen
killed eight people on Monday night in an attack on a police station
and a bank in northeastern Borno state, where Boko Haram first emerged
in 2009.
Western governments fear Boko Haram, or factions of it,
have linked up with other groups in the region, including al-Qaeda's
North African franchise.
- Reuters
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