Task force Commander Brig.Gen. Elias Zamani had, while briefing the Senate Committee on Niger Delta on Monday in Warri, said his men were only occupying Ogdudugbudu in search of the assassins [who killed two Americans employed by Chevron/Texaco and “some oil workers and three naval personnel” on April 23 at Olero Creek.]
Said he: “We are still looking for them. As a result, only yesterday (Sunday), we moved into the community where we suspect the boys come from. That is, Ogbudugbudu. Our boys are deployed there right now, along the Benin River. The search continues”.
However, eyewitness of the incident said that after the Sunday invasion, which saw the torching of Ogdudugbudu and two other villages, men of the task force invaded six other communities on Monday afternoon in a manner reminiscent of the Odi and Zaki Biam operations and destroyed almost every building in sight.
They put the number of the buildings at 500 including public and religious buildings.
According to Kuruma and Lawuru, over 200 persons, mostly women and children who ran into the bush in the wake of the invasion, have not been seen.
They lamented that since the invasion, acute hunger has hit other communities in the area as the military personnel have blocked the Ekewan route, the only way through which the residents get foodstuff from Benin City.
–Daily Independent [Nigeria] Soldiers raze six more Ijaw communities in Delta: 200 women, children feared missing; Curfew on Warri lifted By Uwakwe Abugu Bureau Chief (Warri) and Tunke-Aye Bisina Reportrer (Asaba) July 15, 2004.
SEE ALSO:
— Soldiers Kill 15 in Fresh Invasion of Ijaw Villages; Kingsely Omonobi, John Ighodaro, Osaro Okhomina With Agency Report Warri, Vanguard (Lagos) July 15, 2004. [via AllAfrica]
–Warri: 7 Ijaw Communities Sacked – Group, Onwuka Nzeshi, Warri, This Day (Lagos) July 15, 2004. [via AllAfrica]
–Killing of 29 Youths: Ijaw Leaders Seek Independent Probe, Osaro Okhomina, Warri, Vanguard (Lagos) July 15, 2004. [via AllAfrica]
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