Take Care in Port Harcourt and the Creeks
For those flying for Shell tomorrow, extra care is required as there was fighting between militants and security forces in Nembe today and the Nigerian Navy had to despatch 2 extra gunboats to the area in support of joint task force personnel.
There was a long and violent gun battle in Port Harcourt today, in the old part of the city around Aggrey road. Fifty militants on fought a gunbattle with Nigerian security forces and torched police headquarters in Port Harcourt in the oil-producing Niger Delta to free one of their leaders.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said fighters armed with machine guns, grenades and assault rifles attacked troops and police who fought back with helicopter gunships and an armoured personnel carrier.
"We lost none of our fighters in the encounter which saw the destruction of the State Investigation and Intelligence Bureau and the Rivers state police headquarters," MEND said in a statement e-mailed to journalists.
The group said 50 of its fighters were involved.
The gunfight took place in the densely populated old part of Port Harcourt, near the waterfront, where residents said they saw the militants torch the central police station and at least 10 police vehicles. Police said at least one person was killed.
"Our fighters have since retreated to the creeks with our prize," MEND said, referring to Sobomabo George, one of its leaders who had been captured earlier in the day.
The MEND, which says it is fighting for the impoverished people of the delta to gain control of the region's oil wealth, was responsible for a wave of attacks last February that forced the closure of a fifth of Nigeria's oil production capacity. (source - Reuters)