SEAFARERS

Nigeria: 8 Filipino hostages, 4 Ukrainians, rescued from militants
05/23/2009 | 12:03 AM

ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria's foreign minister said Friday that the military has rescued 12 hostages – eight Filipinos and four Ukrainians – from militants being targeted by the armed forces in the southern oil region.

Ojo Maduekwe told diplomats gathered in the capital, Abuja, that a weeklong military operation aimed at uprooting militant fighters in a southern state was aimed at neutralizing a threat to Nigerian sovereignty as well as security across the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea region.

He also said the stepped-up activities of the military task force, known as the JTF, were not retribution for soldiers killed by militants, who claim at least a dozen troops have died at their hands since the fighting began one week ago.

"JTF operations are not retaliatory. They are partly a reassurance to the troops and their families that members of the of the JTF are not mere sitting ducks for the militants," he said.

The militants, meanwhile, said the three remaining Filipino hostages they're holding will be set free soon. Maduekwe said two other Filipinos had died in the fighting, confirming assertions made earlier by militants.

The military launched its effort May 15 to dislodge fighters loyal to a militant leader, Government Tompolo, in southern Delta state, sending attack helicopters, fighter jets and boats filled with soldiers against the militants' camps. Amnesty International says hundreds of people are feared dead in the violence, but no firm death toll is known.

Activists from the Ijaw ethnic group that live in the area accuse the military of massacring their people and firing on civilians. The military denies the charges.

Authorities consider the entire Niger Delta region, an area of swamps and creeks the size of Scotland, to be a military zone and travel there is strictly controlled. Journalists haven't been able to access the area of the fighting.

It's the military's biggest operation in that part of Nigeria since militant violence began rising in 2006. The militants say they're fighting to force the federal government to send more of the oil-industry derived funds it controls back to the Niger Delta, which remains deeply impoverished despite five decades of oil production. They also sabotage oil pipelines and kidnap foreign workers, who are normally released unharmed after a ransom is paid.

Tompolo had signed a pact with the state government about two years ago not to attack troops or destroy oil pipelines, which had caused a marked decrease in violence in the state, but the clashes appear to have flared after his fighters fought a rare, deadly gunbattle with the military.

Dozens of other militant camps with fighters loyal to various commanders are believed to exist across the southern Niger Delta region where the crude is pumped in Africa's biggest oil producer. The armed forces haven't yet spread their offensive across the region, but militants say they're girding for a fight if it comes. - AP