₦airaland Forum

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.

Miabiye Kuromiema, president of the Ijaw Youth Council, a rights group in the Niger Delta, said he was seeking to confirm reports of more deaths and that the victims included innocent civilians.

Antigha has said troops in boats returned fire when gang members who had taken refuge in the community shot at them.

He said only small arms fire was used in the raids, with aircraft employed for surveillance, denying claims that heavier weapons were employed.

Antigha blamed the burnt houses on gunfire that he said would have ignited canisters of fuel stored there for generators or boat engines.

The fire would have spread because the fire service was not around to extinguish it, according to Antigha.

The raids targeted John Togo, who authorities say is a leader of a criminal gang responsible for piracy, robberies and rape.

An earlier military statement said the task force facilitated Kuromiema's visit as a show of good faith, which the rights leader confirmed.

Kuromiema said a camp appearing to belong to Togo -- he saw the initials JT written on the outside -- was located "a couple of thousands of metres" away from the community and had been taken over by the military.

There was a major military presence throughout the area, he said.

fisuyi:
THE Niger-Delta Liberation Force, NDLF, headed by wanted, “General” John Togo, Friday, wrote to President Barrack Obama of the United States, alleging massacre of innocent and defenseless civilians in Ayakoromor community in Delta State by the Joint Task Force, JTF, on the Niger-Delta, and urged him to prevail on President Goodluck Jonathan to call the task force to order.

In a statement, entitled, “SOS to President Barrack Obama”, the NDLF spokesman, “Captain” Mark Anthony accused the task force of avoiding direct confrontation with the militant group, which had given its location as Israel Barracks, off the Atlantic Ocean, only to attack and kill defenceless civilians, claiming they wore camouflage uniforms.

Insisting that they were fighting for their rights after being short-changed in the amnesty programme, the group said, “If the JTF had come to our Israel Barracks and killed its soldiers (fighters), we would have taken it in good faith.

It wondered why  Nigerian soldiers would  not imitate  US soldiers “by not killing innocent citizens, despite the series of foreign military training they have been undergoing  abroad”, adding, “To  NDLF, the action of JTF soldiers killing innocent, harmless defenceless civil population is simply an act of terrorism and it is a mark of self-defeatism in war. Why must a trained soldier point his nozzle at a defenceless woman and release his trigger?

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/12/john-togo-writes-obama-on-%E2%80%98bloodbath%E2%80%99-in-ayakoromor/

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"Some 32 villagers fled Ayakoromo out of panic when our soldiers approached the community and we are trying to take them back," Colonel Timothy Antigha, spokesman for the joint task force carrying out the raids, told AFP.

He said the military had provided a bus to return the villagers to Ayakoromo, which is located in the area where the military said it had raided camps belonging to wanted militant leader John Togo.

"The villagers have nothing to fear because the military are not after them. The people we are trying to dislodge are the criminals terrorising the region," he said.

The villagers had taken refuge in the oil city of Warri.

A man claiming to be a former local government official, Yerin Ekpedibo, told AFP by telephone that innocent civilians had been killed in the raids, but the military strongly disputed the claim.

"The military killed 37 civilians and wounded several others under the pretence of searching for Togo , More than 800 houses were destroyed," Ekpedibo said.

Death tolls varied widely, with a militant group believed run by Togo claiming more than 100 dead. Antigha, who declined to give details on how the raids were carried out, said no innocent civilian was killed.

"Those claiming that innocent people were killed should come and show us their corpses," he said.

In a statement late Friday, Antigha acknowledged that buildings near the alleged criminal camps were caught up in the raids. He said civilians who fled were being assisted by the joint task force, known as JTF.

"Only the identified camps were targeted," the statement said.

"However, the adjourning buildings became part of (the task force's) target when fleeing criminals took over the buildings, made them defensive positions and fired at JTF troops ,

"This accounts for the damaged buildings that can be seen in the area adjourning the destroyed militant camps."

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mtood:
And those bickering about there not being scantily dressed women in Quatar, that's not the focus of the football World Cup, is it? Moreover, who says every football fan wants to see these scantily clad people? Some are just there to enjoy the World Cup experience and that does not necessarily include bare asses, and bosoms.

There appeared to be confusion about whether those in the village of Ayakoromo initially fought back when the military began their assault Wednesday afternoon. Ikim said all of Togo's fighters left the area before the fighting, while a witness in a nearby village told the AP by telephone that "there was shooting from both sides."

The witness said the military has returned several times to launch new assaults, calling in heavy machine gun fire from patrolling Navy vessels and dropping bombs from military aircraft. One attack took place Friday morning, he said.

"We could only hear the sound — boom boom boom — everywhere," he said. "Everyone (was) running."

The man spoke on the condition of anonymity as he remained fearful of being targeted by military forces for speaking publicly about the attacks.

"My husband is dead, also my two brothers are dead. There is nowhere to go now," said Aunty Polobiri, one of scores of women sheltering in a warehouse outside the city of Warri who said they had fled the fighting around Ayakoroma.

"The army came to the house, destroyed the whole place, burned down the house. Three men were shot in my presence," said another woman, Niyeta Egwuere.

The camps lie deep in the creeks and it was not immediately possible to independently confirm whether civilians had been killed. The security forces have a tense relationship with some local communities and in the past there have been claims of high death tolls which could not subsequently be verified.

The Red Cross said it had received reports of casualties but had not yet been able to reach the scene of the fighting because of its remoteness. It said a team would travel with the military to the communities affected later on Friday.

"I warned the (local Red Cross team) not to go until it is safe, so they went to the local JTF commander and he agreed to provide access to them. They will be going to the camps," a senior Red Cross official told Reuters.

The military has said it wants to flush out gang leader John Togo from Delta state, whom security sources say is one of the more dangerous criminals in the Niger Delta, responsible for violent armed robberies, ambushes and attacks.

"These are professional soldiers who are conversant with the rules of engagement. No such thing happened and cannot be allowed during my tenure in office. We are not in a war situation," JTF Commander Charles Omorege told Reuters, when asked about reports that scores of civilians had been killed.

"A visit to the community and interaction with these people will suffice. You have my word," he said.

dayokanu:
I dey fear o. It might be [b]QATAR[/b]strophic

dayokanu:
What would a world cup be without

[flash=400,400]http://www.youtube.com/watch=/v/kNYgxVDwXzQ&feature=player_embedded[/flash]

dayokanu:
World cup in Qatar = Epic fail

ElRazur:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11858637

redsun:
Atiku is a fallen angel fighting frantically to go back to heaven,nigerian treasury

In a statement after the exchange of fire, the North accused Seoul of driving the peninsula to the "brink of war" with "reckless military provocation" and by postponing humanitarian aid, according to the North's official KCNA news agency.