Nigeria’s military acknowledged on Sunday that raids in pursuit of an alleged gang leader in the main oil-producing region may have killed civilians, but insisted that only militants were targeted.
The acknowledgement came as those among about 500 people who took refuge in a warehouse after claiming to have fled the village where Wednesday’s operation took place said their relatives were killed by military fire.
“It is possible that one or two or three of those who may have been killed could have been civilians,” said Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Antigha, a spokesman for the task force that carried out the raids.
“There wasn’t 100 percent evacuation [of the village beforehand]. It is possible that among those who were not evacuated could have been civilians caught up,” he said.
Death tolls have varied widely following the raids in Ayakoromo village in the Niger Delta region. Amnesty International said it had received reports of scores killed.
Houses were also burned, but the military said they were not set ablaze intentionally.
Some 500 people had taken refuge in a warehouse on the outskirts of the oil city of Warri and claimed to have fled the village because of the military operation.
One woman said her brother, a Catholic church leader, was among those killed by the military.
“He was shot inside his house,” Stella Oteigba, 55, said. “His body was badly burned.”
“We are appealing to the Nigerian government to stop this madness,” said Garry Stanley, who said he was a former local government official. “We also want them to provide relief materials to the people who have been here for the past four days. Right now our village is under military occupation. Nobody can go back there.”
An activist who visited Ayakoromo on Friday accompanied by the military has said at least nine people were reported killed and dozens of houses were damaged, including some that were burnt.
The raids targeted John Togo, who authorities say is a leader of a criminal gang responsible for piracy, robberies and rape.
Meanwhile, the Niger Delta Liberation Force said yesterday it ruptured an oil pipeline belonging to the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
The attack on the pipeline at Batan in Nigeria Delta state took place on Sunday night.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese