Nigeria: 600 missing after soldiers raid squatter community

Barely three days after a deadly clash between Nigeria's Joint Task Force (JTF) and militants in Bomadi area of Delta State, soldiers on Aug. 4 raided an alleged hide-out of the militants in Agge, Ekeremor local government area of Bayelsa state. The invasion left 500 homeless and 600 indigenous of the area missing. The Agge community chairman, Austin Korus, said the soldiers were on a reprisal attack following a clash on Aug. 2 between militants and the JTF troops at Bomadi. He said: "As at 12 noon, the community was still burning with over 500 people rendered homeless and their sources of livelihood totally ruined. He added that the whereabout of over 600 persons is yet to be established." Korus said the military deployed gun boats into the community around 6am and wrought havoc on innocent residences of the area. Nigeria's Daily Champion popular news daily gathered that residents have since fled, after several houses were burned down by the angry soldiers who combed the community in search of the perpetrators of a recent attack on the military. During the said attack, one woman was reportedly killed by a stray bullet while two gun boats belonging to the JTF were seized, and another was seriously damaged by militant youths. No arrest has been made. Contacted, JTF Commander in Bayelsa State, Lt. Col. Chris Musa, said the invasion was aimed at arresting the perpetrators of last weekend's attack on his men. Musa said the perpetrators of the attack on the military which claimed the life of one woman reportedly came from the Agge community, adding that the raid was aimed at fishing them out. JTF commander for the Niger Delta Zone, Brigadier General Wuyep Rimtip had warned against any further reprisal attacks on the military. Rimtip said the military would be left with no option but to pay back, fearing that it would be disastrous. Rimtip said that he has yet to get details of the military incursion into Agge, as he has not been able to establish contact with his troops in the area. He however promised to clear the air on the issue as soon as he gets detail of the incident. Only last week, group of militants operating in the Niger Delta had threatened to make the area ungovernable if the JTF fails to soft pedal on its hard stance on illegal squatting in the area. The group, which called itself the club of illegal bunkerers, resolved to resume attacks on oil facilities if the present stance of the JTF on illegal squatting was not softened. Upon becoming commander of the JTF, Rimtip had stated emphatically that he is not in the Niger Delta to aid and abet squatting but to stop it. He had vowed to send squatters out of the region by crippling their activities.