Boatloads of Nigerian troops headed into the oil-rich Niger Delta on Wednesday to put down days of ethnic violence that has left 15 people dead and disrupted multinational oil operations. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers packed onto government boats leaving the oil port of Warri for villages along swamps and rivers to the south. Nigerian navy spokesman Shinebi Hungiapuko declined to say exactly how many soldiers were deployed to the restive region but said they would be enough to “quell the turbulence in the area.” About 10,000 Nigerian troops are permanently stationed in the southern delta. Two soldiers and five civilians were killed in a March 12 shootout between Nigerian navy troops and ethnic Ijaw fighters at Okerenkoko village near Warri, a major base for oil multinationals operating in the delta, where almost all of Nigeria’s crude is drilled. Full Story
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