Grim and curious, thousands of Nigerians stood in the rain Monday under incongruous, carnival-colored African umbrellas and stared at the debris of the night of terror in downtown Lagos near police headquarters. The emotions of these bystanders were obviously the real target of the terrorists who set off two explosions on Sunday night, killing four persons and injuring 14. It seemed a classic case of terrorists trying to make the population shudder or even panic in fear. They had a measure of success. Though Nigerians in Lagos did not seem panicky and fearful, they did look quiet and uneasy, worried, even fretful. The explosions came a little more than a month after the old Eastern Region seceded from Nigeria and proclaimed itself the independent Republic of Biafra, which the federal military ruler, Maj. Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has pledged to crush by force...

related Stanley Meisler articles by topic: