10 feared killed as soldiers hunt militia in Rivers
From Kelvin Ebiri (Port Harcourt)
TEN persons were feared dead and many others displaced yesterday following a military operation in Amadi-Ama community in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State. The operation was ostensibly to dislodge and recover weapons from militiamen of Okrika extraction allegedly using the community as hideout.
The federal and Rivers State governments have vowed to exterminate those they described as hoodlums and cultists terrorising the people with illegally acquired arms.
For the residents of Amadi-Ama, it was indeed a reign of terror of as soldiers broke into houses in search of militiamen who had earlier fled the community. In the process, unconfirmed report claim, at least 10 persons were killed either by the militiamen or the soldiers.
A source told The Guardian in Port Harcourt that about midday last Sunday, three unidentified persons suspected to be members of a faction of militiamen from Okrika had driven into Amadi-Ama, an Okrika community, in a black Mercedes Benz car and murdered a boy alleged to be a member of the Bush Boys militia group. The killing, according to the source, heightened tension in the community and as anticipated, there was a reprisal attack on Monday night.
Horrified residents who managed to escape from the terror recounted that they were jolted from their sleep by sporadic gunshots at about 1 a.m. yesterday. By 4 a.m., the intensity of the gunshots mainly fired from AK47, M16 and machine guns became exceedingly frightening.
A government source, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that the military, which had been participating in mop-up of arms in crisis-ridden riverine communities of Rivers State got intelligence report that local militiamen residing in Amadi-Ama were planning a reprisal attack on Okrika mainland over their slain colleague. The military was subsequently drafted into the community to fish them out.
Unlike Ogbakiri where a joint military and police team stormed the community ostensibly in search of their kidnapped colleague, the source said the soldiers decided to act alone because of suspicion that information was leaking to the militiamen thus making it difficult to arrest them.
Residents said a large contingent of soldiers who entered the community in the early hours of yesterday cordoned the area and proceeded on a house-to-house search for the militiamen. A middle-aged man, who was drenched in his own blood through gunshot wounds bemoaned the alleged killing of his daughter by men in military uniform. According to him, several other people in Amadi-Ama suffered a similar fate. Locals told The Guardian that no fewer than 10 persons may have been killed in the military operation.
The road leading to the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) jetty around the Eastern bye-pass area was cordoned off by the soldiers who turned back workers. It was not until 11.35 am that displaced persons, numbering over 200, mainly women and children, managed to escape from their houses through the NLNG road.
Journalists who visited the community to ascertain the situation were held by fierce-looking soldiers who persistently fired gunshots into the air. One infuriated sergeant wielding a sub-machine gun ordered the cameras of the journalists should be seized. The reporters were later taken to the commanding officer.
Satisfied that no photographs of his men had been taken, the commanding officer who refused to comment on the military operation, ordered that the journalists be released and their cameras returned to them. Two soldiers, who had earlier saved the journalists from the wrath of others, later escorted the journalists to the NLNG jetty.
