No fewer
than six Nigerian soldiers have been killed in new military campaign against
militants in the country’s restive Niger Delta oil hub, security officials said
on Friday.
The southern
swampland has been largely quiet since the start of the year because militants
halted attacks against oil pipelines to give the government a chance to conduct
peace talks.
But in a new
confrontation, security forces moved into Ajakpa community in Ondo state, a
region west of the Niger Delta, to hunt for militants involved in oil theft and
kidnapping.
At least six
soldiers were killed, as was the leader of a gang that had used the area as
base to stage operations inside the Delta, military officials told a news
conference in the oil town of Yenagoa. The operation has not yet finished.
“Following
that successful operation, our troops carried out a raid operation to clear
remnants of miscreants, militant camps, shrines and hideouts,” a military
statement said.
But the Ijaw
Youth Council, representing the biggest ethnic group in the region, said the
army had laid siege to the community and harmed civilians.
“No one is
allowed to come in or go out from the community as the water ways have been
blocked by the military,” it said in a statement. “Women and children are dying
on the hour of starvation and diseases; women are being r*ped and s*xually
harassed.”
But
according to Reuters, the military rejected the allegations by the Ijaws as
propaganda.
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