Print
Militants claim Nigerian troops kill 7 civilians
Admin - Jun 12, 09
http://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/militants-claim-nigerian-troops-kill-7-civilians
June 12, 2009 (AFP) - Nigeria's most prominent armed group claimed Friday that government troops had killed seven civilians in the restive Niger Delta region, a key oil-producing area, but the military denied
the incident."The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) can confirm that seven more civilians were killed in cold blood on Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by the soldiers of the military Joint Task Force," the group said in a statement.
It claimed the seven included four children, one woman, an elderly man, and a driver of a boat they were traveling in.
MEND said they were shot without warning as they approached a task force checkpoint located in a waterway at Kangbene community in Delta state.
"This is one of several killings going on inside the creeks on a weekly basis. The area has been closed to humanitarian bodies, journalists and international observers to hide the atrocities," it said.
A spokesman for the Nigerian military denied the charge.
"There is no iota of truth in the allegation," Colonel Rabe Abubakar told AFP.
He said the ongoing military operation in the volatile oil region was aimed at "flushing out criminals, saboteurs and oil thieves from the Niger Delta".
"Our mandate is to secure the oil region, protect the people and oil installations. How can we then turn our guns against those we are supposed to defend?" Abubakar asked.
Nigeria's military last month launched a crackdown on Niger Delta militants following violent attacks on the country's oil industry in recent months.
The military also accuses the rebels of killing soldiers deployed to protect oil firms and personnel in the restive region.
MEND, which came to prominence in late 2005, says it is fighting for the impoverished local communities in the Niger Delta region.
It has been accused of being behind a spate of kidnappings of oil workers and previous attacks against the oil industry, the theft of crude oil, extortion and the vandalism of oil installations and facilities.
MEND has several times acknowledged holding local and foreign oil workers as well as vandalising the oil facilities.
Early Wednesday, MEND claimed it had set Chevron's Utonana production facility on fire as part of its campaign to cripple Nigeria's multi-billion-dollar oil and gas industry.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has reduced Nigeria's daily oil output to 1.8 million barrels, according to the latest June figures by the International Energy Agency, compared with 2.6 million barrels in January 2006.
Most of Nigeria's crude comes from the volatile region.
Nigeria, a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), derives more than 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings from oil.
