Tension may rise again in the Niger Delta, as a fierce gun battle between militants and soldiers along a border community near Ekeremor in Bayelsa State on Sunday night left 10 Ijaw youths and a soldier dead.
An unspecified number of the combatants were injured in the confrontation.
Although details of the incident are still hazy, Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Ringim, confirmed the death of the militants and a soldier.
Oil multinational, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), also disclosed that one of its staff was taken hostage in the Letugbene area of the state as a result of the encounter.
The SPDC said in a statement that it received reports of a clash between soldiers of the Joint (Military) Task Force and some militants around the Brass Creek, resulting in a number of injuries and casualties.
“There are indications that an SPDC staff who had been taken hostage in the Letugbene area of Bayelsa State may have been affected in the incident.
“We do not have details of the clash. We are, however, making efforts to determine what actually happened. Also, efforts, including contacts with the Bayelsa State Government and community leaders, are being made to confirm the whereabouts of the SPDC staff,” the statement added.
The oil giant explained that when it received news of his abduction, it made a formal report to the authorities, “and we have been cooperating with the state government on efforts towards his release”.
The fresh military onslaught in the area is in line with President Olusegun Obasanjo�s directive last week to the military and the police to meet militants in the oil region “force for force.”
He said those engaged in the act of kidnapping expatriate oil workers must be flushed out of the area. He also warned the state governments to halt any negotiation or payment of ransom to the militants.
There are, however, indications that the militants are not fazed by the order. A day after it was issued, they struck in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, and kidnapped a Lebanese. But at the weekend, soldiers reportedly raided some flashpoints in Port Harcourt in a bid to dislodge some of the militants. In the process, some youths were killed while residents of the Iloabuchi area fled as a result of sporadic shooting by the soldiers.
Sunday�s clash with the soldiers was, however, the first direct confrontation since Obasanjo�s order last Tuesday. Sources say the militants, who hold sway in the coastal areas of the region, are ready for war against the oil firms and the military guarding their facilities.