Blast: CCTV Footage Destroyed, Car Owner Can't Be Traced

This Day

31 August 2011

Blast: CCTV Footage Destroyed, Car Owner Can't Be Traced

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at Abuja for Bomb Blast Investigation

•10 Nigerians among dead victims

•UN reviews threat assessment

From Tokunbo Adedoja in New York, Damilola Oyedele and Paul Obi in Abuja

A potentially vital clue in unravelling the graphic images of the suicide bomb attack on the United Nations House in Abuja last Friday was lost in the incident.

The CCTV footage containing the images of how the bomber drove the car laden with explosives through the security barriers was substantially destroyed.   Also, security sources informed THISDAY last night that investigation into the ownership of the car used in the attack had suffered a setback over documentation issues.

And as a fall-out of  the deadly bomb attack on its building in Abuja, the UN said it would soon conduct a global threat assessment, just as it confirmed that 11 of the 23 lives claimed by the blast were its workers. Giving an insight into the footage damage yesterday, the UN Undersecretary for Safety and Security, Gregory Starr, said: "We are trying to recover the images from CCTV, but because of the blast, most of the footage have been destroyed.”