PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AFP) — The military in Nigeria's southern oil hub on Tuesday said it shot dead one of the leaders of the main armed militant group in the Rivers State of the volatile Niger Delta region.
The spokesman for a special security unit known as the joint task force (JTF) in the area, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, said Tubotamuno Angolia, popularly known locally as "Boy Chiki", was shot and killed when he attempted to escape shortly after his arrest Tuesday morning.
"Troops on static deployment in Bakana ...today succeeded in the arrest of one of the most wanted criminals on our list," said Musa, in reference to Angolia.
Angolia is believed to be one of the commanders of the Movement for the Emancipation for the Niger Delta (MEND), a rebel group that has led a campaign of attacks on oil installations and its workers in the region.
Musa said after his arrest he was taken to a local Bakana military station for onward movement to the JTF headquarters in the city of Port Harcourt.
"As they were about to move him, he zoomed out and tried to run and efforts made to re-arrest him proved abortive. As a result he was fired at, sustained a bullet wound which resulted in his death," said Musa.
For the past three years, armed groups in the Niger Delta, who claim to be acting on behalf of the impoverished local population, have staged violent attacks on oil companies and their staff.
The violence means crude production is now down to some two million barrels a day, compared to 2.6 million in 2006.
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