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Dozens feared dead in Nigerian oil city battles

Posted by AFP on 2007/08/17 | Views: 565 |

Dozens feared dead in Nigerian oil city battles


Dozens of people were feared dead in battles between security forces and heavily armed gang members in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt on Thursday, residents said.

Dozens of people were feared dead in battles between security forces and heavily armed gang members in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt on Thursday, residents said.

Heavy shooting and explosions echoed from the outskirts of town and residents speculated that troops were trying to push back militants who were trying to enter the port.

"We're hearing calibres of weapon that people have never heard before," one resident told AFP.

Others said they had seen helicopter gunships firing missiles at unknown targets in the city.

"A gunship opened fire on the creek and it sank three boats," said another local, adding that some three dozen people were killed in the attack.

There was no immediate word on the identity of those reported killed, but an officer from the Joint Task Force, the body responsible for policing the Niger Delta, said the gunships had not been used against civilians.

The casualty figures have not been confirmed and the military has provided no figures on casualties to either side. Residents also spoke of five soldiers being killed by gang members.

By early evening the battles had eased and the helicopter gunships had returned to base as heavy rain began to fall.

The battles broke out in the southeast of the town in the morning, after security forces arrested a group of gang members in a pre-dawn raid.

"Some cult members -- about 20 of them -- were arrested around 4:30 am (0330 GMT) this morning," the JTF officer said.

He said the men belonged to a group led by Soboma George, one of the two gang leaders behind last week's violence that left several -- some sources say more than a dozen -- people dead and turned Port Harcourt into a no-go area.

"The security forces are on top of the situation," Rivers state Police Chief Felix Ogbaudu told AFP.

"We suspect Soboma George was killed" in Thursday's raid, the JTF officer said.

The officer said that when the gang leader's men were surrounded they started shooting and police and army troops retaliated.

Gang warfare has broken out sporadically in and around Port Harcourt over the past several years, on occasions killing several hundred people.

The major gangs enjoy the patronage of politicians who use them to intimidate their opponents and rig elections.

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