A bloodbath in the creeks of Bayelsa State on Saturday left three soldiers and four civilians dead in another orgy of violence.
Although the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta confirmed there was a gun fight, it was not specific that three soldiers had been killed.
JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Chris Musa, said three men on duty pass had been missing, but could not say categorically they were the ones killed in the battle.
Musa said the soldiers that could not be accounted for at press time were those on off duty pass. He said the men had been in mufti.
He added that a search party had been dispatched to look for them.
Our correspondent gathered, however, that the four civilian causalities were passengers on a commuter craft bound for Yenagoa, the state capital, that was attacked along the waterways of the Obioku community in the Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The JTF, our correspondent gathered, had sent signals to the headquarters of the formation in Effurun, Delta State, and the Defence Headquarters, about the incident.
Sources familiar with the security situation around Obioku told our correspondent that the soldiers and civilian were gunned down by an unknown militia in the area.
The Obioku attack comes two days after gunmen blew up an Agip oil flow station that supplies 20,000 barrels of crude oil per day in the Ijaw South Local Government Area of the state, and a week after construction giant, Julius Berger, shut down its operations in Bayelsa State over fears of imminent attacks from gunmen that had invaded its work site in Rumuji, Rivers State.
Julius Berger had abandoned the multi-billion naira Ekoli Bridge in Yenagoa after unknown gunmen demanded N32m for the two expatriates that were abducted in Rumuji.
The strategic Ekloli Bridge is about 90 per cent complete. It is expected to link Yenagoa with the riverside communities around it.