A major hotel in La­gos is said to be under real threat of being attacked by a terrorist group, the French press agency, AFP, has revealed in a report, quoting United States Consulate Gen­eral in Lagos.

In the report published by AFP, US diplomats in Nige­ria last Friday claimed that “groups associated with ter­rorism” could be planning to attack a hotel in Lagos, and accordingly issued a warning to its citizens.

“As of late April, groups associated with terrorism al­legedly planned to mount an unspecified attack against the Sheraton Hotel in Nige­ria, near the city of Lagos,” the US Consulate General in Lagos said in an emailed advisory.

“There was no further in­formation regarding which of the two Sheraton Hotels in Lagos was the possible tar­get, or if both of the Sheraton Hotels are possible targets. There is no further informa­tion regarding the timing or method of attack. US citi­zens are cautioned to avoid these hotels at this time,” the US Consulate said in the ad­visory.

The warning came a day after another car bomb ex­ploded in Nyanya, Abuja killing 19 people and wound­ing many others just metres from a bus station where a previous bombing on April 14 killed at least 75.

Boko Haram claimed the April 14 attack and both bombings have raised fears about a possible change in tactics and targets by the Islamist militants, whose in­creasingly deadly, five-year insurgency has largely been confined to the north.

Concern has mounted that the violence could spread to other parts of the country given the military’s apparent inability to stem the blood­shed.

Sheraton has two hotels in Lagos: the Sheraton Ho­tel Lagos in the Ikeja area of the city near the international airport and the Four Points by Sheraton.

The latter is situated on Victoria Island off the ex­pressway to Lekki, both of which are home to many wealthy Nigerians and expa­triates.

The US travel advisory said the security situation in Nigeria remained “fluid and unpredictable,” warning its citizens to stay away from all travel to Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states which have borne the brunt of the vio­lence.



Source: Sun