Nigerian intelligence authorities said Monday they were holding nine people believed to have links with an ex-militant leader arrested in connection with deadly independence day bombings.
   
"So far nine arrests have been made and all have direct links with (militant leader) Henry Okah, the incident and some unscrupulous prominent elements in the society," Marilyn Ogar, spokeswoman for Nigeria's intelligence services, told reporters.
   
She refused to give details of the suspects. 
   
Police had earlier said they were holding one suspect, a foreigner, and were hunting down two Nigerians thought to be the masterminds of the attacks,  but it was not clear if they were among the nine.
   
Okah, ex-leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was arrested on Saturday in Johannesburg, the day after twin car bombings in Nigeria's capital Abuja killed 12 people.
   
Statements in the name of MEND, a Nigerian militant group based in the southern oil rich region, have claimed responsibility for the bombings.
   
Ogar said the arrested suspects "have direct links to Henry Okah, not MEND."
   
She also said the attacks were initially planned to be staged two days prior to Nigeria's independence anniversary celebrations, but that plan was "foiled" by security forces.
   
Okah has denied any involvement in the car bombings, according to his lawyers.
   
In a statement at the weekend MEND said that "Okah has never been involved in any MEND operations".
   
MEND, which claimed to be fighting for a fairer distribution of oil  revenue, has carried out scores of attacks in the Niger Delta, the country's  main oil-producing region. But an amnesty deal offered by the government last year has greatly reduced the unrest.
   
The group, which has been seen as an umbrella organisation for criminal gangs and which police have called "amorphous", had never before struck in the capital and rarely caused such a high number of casualties.
   
Key MEND commanders have accepted the amnesty, but some fighters refused to lay down arms, saying the deal was a "charade" which failed to address the key issues of under-development and injustice in the delta.

President Goodluck Jonathan earlier implicated "a small terrorist group that resides outside Nigeria that was paid by some people."
   
The former rebel group leader Okah, who is resident in Johannesburg,  remained in custody in South Africa on Monday after a court postponed his bail hearing to October 14.

Source: AFP