At least 45 people had died by Tuesday as the death toll increased in four days of gun battles between rival ethnic militias in Nigeria's southern oil city of Warri, witnesses said. More than 40 houses were burnt and thousands left homeless as fighting, which broke out on Friday night between Ijaw and Itsekiri militias armed with automatic weapons, persisted despite a night curfew imposed by the Delta State government. Twenty people were reported killed by witnesses in the first two days of fighting. Ijaw militants said 39 of their people were killed by troops deployed by President Olusegun Obasanjo's government to quell the violence. "The 39 people include women and children and 16 men killed in cold blood by soldiers," Bello Oboko, an Ijaw militant leader told IRIN on Tuesday. His claims could not be confirmed by independent sources.
| And that doesn't include the puppies, kittens, and baby ducks! |
But Colonel Gar Dogo, commander of the 6th Amphibious Battalion of the Nigerian army, deployed to end the violence denied that his troops had killed innocent people. "It is not true we have killed any Ijaw people, my soldiers have been very restrained and we have no reason to take sides against Ijaws," he told IRIN.
| "Nope. Nope. Never happened. Wudn't us." |
Bawo Omatsola, an Itsekiri resident, said more than 15 people were killed during attacks launched by Ijaws on their settlements on Sunday and the early hours of Monday. He said many people were still missing and may have died.
| "An' we din't do nuttin'! Nuttin', I tells yez! We wud just standin' there, mindin' our own bidnid..." |
Oil transnationals which use Warri as a key base for operations in the western Niger Delta asked their employees to stay away from their offices to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
To all employees:
Try not to get shot. Those people are crazy.
Thank you,
The Management |
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