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« NANF blames Presidency over state of sports in Nigeria | Main | 11 Die in Pipeline Vandalisation, Cult Wars in Rivers »

October 08, 2006

Nigerian army 'razes oil village'

The Nigerian army has carried out a series of raids on oil militants after the reported deaths of 17 soldiers in the Niger Delta, several sources say.

The militants say they captured two military gunboats

The militants say a village in the oil producing area was razed to the ground but this was denied by the army.

The militants claim to have killed the troops in two attacks but this has not been independently confirmed. They are now threatening further attacks.

Nigeria's oil output is still 25% down after a wave of attacks in February.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but the militants demand more local control of oil wealth for residents of the Niger Delta.

Helicopter gunships

"In the light of this attack on a helpless community, we are at present considering reciprocal action against the military or oil installations in Rivers [State]," said an e-mail from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend).

The military have used gun boats and helicopter gunships in the Delta's creeks, sources say, but there are no details of arrests or casualties.

But local army spokesman Sagir Musa said: "There is no truth in the story that the military have attacked any community in the creeks."

The raids came as army commanders were summoned to the capital, Abuja, however the military refuses to say whether the talks concern the recent escalation in violence in the Niger Delta, the source of most of Nigeria's oil.

Nine soldiers were killed when Mend fighters battled nine military patrol boats backed up by a helicopter gunship for one-and-a-half hours around Shell's Ekulama oil flow station, 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Port Harcourt, the militants said.

Mend also say they seized two military gunboats.

In a separate incident, Mend said they killed two soldiers and six sailors.

"After a brief shoot-out in which they were all killed, we boarded the houseboat and collected all the weapons aboard," the group said.

The British government has responded to the attacks by warning against all but essential travel to the Niger Delta.

The latest attacks comes two days after another armed group killed at least 10 soldiers by raiding a convoy of barges carrying fuel in the same region.

Five foreign oil workers - including four Britons - seized during a raid on a residential compound operated by ExxonMobil in Akwa Ibom state on Tuesday remain missing.

Dilemma

The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says the Nigerian military and oil companies face a serious dilemma in how to respond to the upsurge in violence.

The militants say they are fighting for greater local control of oil wealth

The oil companies do not want to see any heavy-handed military action which could exacerbate the situation and endanger the lives of their workers, our correspondent says.

But he says that so many soldiers' deaths would prompt a fierce military response anywhere else in the country.

Two months ago, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo ordered the military to take a tougher line with the armed groups in the Delta.

However, targeting the armed groups would take a major increase in the military presence in the Delta, whose maze of creeks and swamps give the local insurgents a major advantage.

Our correspondent says some fear further violence in the build-up to elections next year.

Posted by Publisher at October 8, 2006 10:04 AM

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