In its defence, the SSS said it was not informed by Mr. Mutallab's father of his sons alleged radical beliefs, the agency said that Mr. Mutallab's father had actually spoken with officials at the United States Embassy in Abuja and also sought the help of a past Nigerian National Security Adviser. The SSS held that the American authorities did not share the information that Mr. Mutallab senior had given them and the former National Security Adviser had also not contacted the agency hence their inability to act on information they did not possess. The agency was also criticized heavily in the wake of 26 August 2011 United Nations House bombing in Abuja. The Boko Haram sect which has ties to Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility for the car bomb attack that left 24 people dead; the sect had been fighting Boko Haram insurgency that started as a result of their leader being killed by policemen after he had been arrested. The Nigerian public grew even more critical of the agency after newspapers ran stories in which they claimed that the agency had received intelligence about the bombing beforehand from the Americans. This news item later turned out to be false when it was revealed that it was the SSS who had actually received credible intelligence from sources within Boko Haram about an impending attack in Abuja. The intelligence pointed out key government buildings and ministries as targets, the agency subsequently raised the alert level in Abuja and also advised diplomatic missions and international organizations in the city to take adequate security precautions for their staff and premises. The final UN report on the incident indicted the UN resident Security adviser in Abuja and his deputy, they were accused of negligence considering the fact that they had been given "adequate intelligence on a possible suicide attack", yet they failed to implement suitable safeguards. Both men were subsequently relieved of their positions. In early November 2011, the Nigerian press ran stories alleging that the United States government had issued a travel advisory on Nigeria. The travel advisory according to the papers included the threat of bomb attacks at major hotels in Abuja frequented by expatriates. The story immediately generated panic among the populace and accusations of incompetence made against the security agencies, the SSS inclusive. The story also alleged that the American ambassador had given a statement explaining that the US had given the warning directly because the Nigerian security agencies had failed to act on previous intelligence shared with them. In the end, the situation was only brought under control when the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Andrew Azazi demanded evidence that the Americans had indeed given such a warning or that the American Ambassador had actually said what had been attributed to him in the press.