No fewer than six corpses, suspected to be those of youths with militant leanings, have been seen floating around Bille, one of the fishing communities around the Cawthorne Channel, where militants killed five soldiers last week.
The youths were believed to have been killed in the course of the search and rescue operations mounted by the military, where soldiers said to be escorting supplies to some oil companies based in the creeks were killed.
Villagers who allegedly witnessed the reprisal attack by soldiers said it was possible that more bodies would still surface as there have been increased militarization of the Niger Delta after the two attacks which claimed about 14 soldiers in a space of one week.
Although the Army Public Relations Officer in the State, Major Musa Segir would not outrightly confirm the killing, he said his men in the course of the search and rescue operations carried out after the attack on his men actually encountered some militant youths in the area over the weekend.
He rationalized what happened on the part of the soldiers as defensive action, pointing out that while they were capable of rising to any occasion, they have restrained their people to only firing in self defence, adding that since the youths again attacked his men; they were left with no option than to defend themselves
His words: �I am not aware of corpses floating in the river. But I know that there is pocket of crisis between the army and the militants in Bille community. The militants again attacked the army. The army successfully repelled the attack. It was a defensive attack on the part of the army. This was during the weekend. Under normal situation, once the army is ready for any eventuality, we will surely have an upper hand.�