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NIGERIA: MILITANTS CLASH WITH GOVERNMENT FORCES March 9, 2006
Kizza Harajah
(SomaliNet) Seven Nigerian soldiers were killed during an attack on the militants holding three foreign oil workers. A statement from the militants based in the Niger Delta region says that they were attacked by four patrol boats belonging to the Nigerian government, damaging one of their vessels.However, the Nigerian government has not yet confirmed this piece of information.
The militants further warned that they would crush any Nigerian goverment forces. "The Nigerian government and military should note that we have sufficient firepower in that vicinity to repel any attack," the militants said.
The past two months have been characterised by militant attacks in oil rich Nigeria. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has publically acclaimed that it is responsible for these activities and threatened not to stop till the local Nigerians benefit more from the country's oil wealth.