 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Two suspected militants killed in Nigeria gunbattle : military
Lagos (AFP) April 22, 2009 Nigeria's government troops killed two suspected militants and arrested three others during a recent gunfight in the volatile oil-producing Niger Delta, the military said on Wednesday. Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman of the Joint Military Taskforce (JTF) -- a special unit of the army, navy and police -- said that "two militants were killed and three arrested" when they "recently encountered a JTF patrol team at Degema" in southern Rivers State. Abubakar said the attackers from the same group, which he did not name, staged another attack on JTF on Tuesday, "in efforts to avenge their colleagues' misfortunes and probably rescue the arrested ones." The attack, carried out from three speed boats in the delta's creeks, "was successfully thwarted" by the government troops, he said. The main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) last week threatened to "join the fray" between the JTF and youths in southern Bayelsa State who, according to MEND, have been staging protests against Royal Dutch Shell. "We wish to warn that should any MEND camps be attacked, the entire Niger Delta region will become a theatre of another civil war," the group said in a statement. "The same position will be taken if the military carries out any punitive invasion on the impoverished communities that protested against Shell which led to this current crisis," the group added. Militants waging the attacks say they are fighting for a fair distribution of oil wealth to local people of the delta in the world's eighth largest oil producer. The unrest in the Niger Delta has drastically reduced Nigeria's oil output, with daily production currently hovering at around 1.78 million barrels, according to the International Energy Agency, compared with 2.6 million barrels in 2006. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Africa News - Resources, Health, Food
Kenya wildlife devasted by increasing human impact
Nairobi (AFP) April 22, 2009Wildlife populations in Kenya's Maasai Mara National Reserve have declined massively over the past quarter century due to pressures from a rapidly expanding human presence, according to a study released Wednesday. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Google
Facebook