20101015
reuters

LAGOS (Reuters) - A Nigerian militant group said on Friday it planned to carry out another bomb attack in the capital Abuja this month, after claiming twin car bombs in the city two weeks ago which killed at least 10 people.

The October 1 blasts near an independence day parade and the threat of further violence have raised political tensions in Africa's most populous country as it prepares for nationwide elections due to be held next April.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it was giving the government "about seven days' notice" ahead of the next attack, which it said would be in response to the handling of the independence day bombs.

It accused President Goodluck Jonathan's administration of arresting innocent people following the October 1 attacks and said Henry Okah, a militant leader on trial in South Africa over the bombings, was innocent.

The presidency has said the investigations are based on U.S. and British as well as Nigerian intelligence.

"Since both (the Nigerian and South African) governments are bent on blaming innocent persons on ridiculous insinuations and unrelated evidence, we have decided to carry out another attack in Abuja without altering our mode of operation to prove the suspects' innocence," the emailed statement said.

"As usual we will give a 30 minutes advance warning to avoid civilian casualties, then sit back and watch how the blame game will be played out on all those already falsely accused."

The warning was sent from the same Yahoo! email address and signed with the same pseudonym, Jomo Gbomo, used by MEND to claim both the independence day bombings and previous attacks on oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta.