More Filipino hostages rescued in Nigerian delta
Reuters
WARRI, Nigeria - Nigerian security forces said they had freed three more Filipino hostages in the oil-producing Niger Delta on Saturday and vowed to press on with an offensive that has forced hundreds of villagers to flee.
Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were being used to survey the creeks and guide ground troops to try to flush out militants from remote communities around the port of Warri, military spokesman Colonel Rabe Abubakar said.
"We were able to rescue three Filipinos today," he said. "People should not be panicked when they see helicopters or planes. Innocent people should not fear. We are targeting the militants, not them."
He said the three Filipino hostages freed on Saturday were among more than a dozen seized 10 days ago from an oil vessel in Chanomi Creek near Warri. Nine other Filipinos and four Nigerians had already been freed.
The military began its biggest offensive for years just over a week ago, bombarding militant camps around Warri from the air and sea before sending three battalions of soldiers to hunt down rebels believed to have fled into surrounding communities.
Foreign oil firms have evacuated non-essential staff from the western delta, home to part of Africa's biggest oil industry, but production has continued largely unaffected and global oil markets have shrugged off the unrest.
Militant groups say they are fighting for a fairer share of the oil wealth for local people in the delta, still mired in poverty despite five decades of oil extraction.
The armed gangs have also grown rich from the large-scale theft of crude oil, worth millions of dollars a day, and the line between militancy and criminality is blurred.
Major-General Sakin-Yaki Bello, commander of the joint military task force in the Niger Delta, has said he ordered a "pinpoint helicopter attack" on the home of militant leader Government Tompolo in the village of Oporoza on May 15.
The military says aircraft have only been used for surveillance since then.
Hiding in the bush
Local authorities handed out basic goods including rice, groundnut oil and soap to hundreds of people, mostly women and children, on the outskirts of Warri on Saturday who said they fled from Oporoza and surrounding communities in recent days.
"We were in Oporoza when the plane started dropping bombs. Everyone ran into the bush," Doreen Aborowa, in her early 20s, told Reuters in local government offices in Ogbe-Ijoh on the edge of Warri, where the displaced were being cared for.
"We slept in the bush for three days before somebody from the village came with a canoe to start taking us away," she said, explaining that the men had stayed behind for fear they would be arrested by the army if found travelling the waterways.
Abubakar said 11 soldiers from the delta task force were missing and the "cordon-and-search" operation would continue until they were found.
Some leaders from the Ijaw ethnic group, the largest in the Niger Delta, have accused the military of a targeted ethnic campaign and say innocent civilians have been killed in the villages of the Gbaramatu Kingdom around Oporoza.
Chief Godspower Gbenekama, a traditional Gbaramatu Kingdom leader, said three communities -- Venikrukru, Daubiriye and Egonoebizor -- were attacked by the army on Saturday.
"I am told the oldest man in Gbaramatu Kingdom, who could not run, was killed in the operation as well as a woman and two children," he said.
Abubakar said he was not aware of any such attack on Saturday.
WARRI, Nigeria - Nigerian security forces said they had freed three more Filipino hostages in the oil-producing Niger Delta on Saturday and vowed to press on with an offensive that has forced hundreds of villagers to flee.
Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were being used to survey the creeks and guide ground troops to try to flush out militants from remote communities around the port of Warri, military spokesman Colonel Rabe Abubakar said.
"We were able to rescue three Filipinos today," he said. "People should not be panicked when they see helicopters or planes. Innocent people should not fear. We are targeting the militants, not them."
He said the three Filipino hostages freed on Saturday were among more than a dozen seized 10 days ago from an oil vessel in Chanomi Creek near Warri. Nine other Filipinos and four Nigerians had already been freed.
The military began its biggest offensive for years just over a week ago, bombarding militant camps around Warri from the air and sea before sending three battalions of soldiers to hunt down rebels believed to have fled into surrounding communities.
Foreign oil firms have evacuated non-essential staff from the western delta, home to part of Africa's biggest oil industry, but production has continued largely unaffected and global oil markets have shrugged off the unrest.
Militant groups say they are fighting for a fairer share of the oil wealth for local people in the delta, still mired in poverty despite five decades of oil extraction.
The armed gangs have also grown rich from the large-scale theft of crude oil, worth millions of dollars a day, and the line between militancy and criminality is blurred.
Major-General Sakin-Yaki Bello, commander of the joint military task force in the Niger Delta, has said he ordered a "pinpoint helicopter attack" on the home of militant leader Government Tompolo in the village of Oporoza on May 15.
The military says aircraft have only been used for surveillance since then.
Hiding in the bush
Local authorities handed out basic goods including rice, groundnut oil and soap to hundreds of people, mostly women and children, on the outskirts of Warri on Saturday who said they fled from Oporoza and surrounding communities in recent days.
"We were in Oporoza when the plane started dropping bombs. Everyone ran into the bush," Doreen Aborowa, in her early 20s, told Reuters in local government offices in Ogbe-Ijoh on the edge of Warri, where the displaced were being cared for.
"We slept in the bush for three days before somebody from the village came with a canoe to start taking us away," she said, explaining that the men had stayed behind for fear they would be arrested by the army if found travelling the waterways.
Abubakar said 11 soldiers from the delta task force were missing and the "cordon-and-search" operation would continue until they were found.
Some leaders from the Ijaw ethnic group, the largest in the Niger Delta, have accused the military of a targeted ethnic campaign and say innocent civilians have been killed in the villages of the Gbaramatu Kingdom around Oporoza.
Chief Godspower Gbenekama, a traditional Gbaramatu Kingdom leader, said three communities -- Venikrukru, Daubiriye and Egonoebizor -- were attacked by the army on Saturday.
"I am told the oldest man in Gbaramatu Kingdom, who could not run, was killed in the operation as well as a woman and two children," he said.
Abubakar said he was not aware of any such attack on Saturday.
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