Nigeria: Another War Between the Army and Police

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March 30, 2007: The army admitted that its soldiers had accidentally shot and killed four policemen on March 27th. The deaths were originally reported as the work of gangsters or rebels. The army says their soldiers thought the police were bandits, and opened fire on their car at about 3 AM. The army says that the police, when approached by the soldiers, drew their weapons and began firing. There are conflicting accounts of exactly what happened, as well as accusations that the police were involved in some sort of corruption. The army and police do not always get along, and there have been fatal battles between soldiers and police in the past. The government is trying to prevent this incident from turning into the spark for another outbreak of violence.

March 27, 2007: In northern Nigeria, over seventy people died as they tried to retrieve fuel leaking from an overturned fuel tanker truck. Despite warnings from the driver, that the leaking truck was about to explode, people kept trying to retrieve the fuel.

March 23, 2007: Three more foreigners have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta oil region.

March 21, 2007: Several hundred police reinforcements were sent to southwestern Nigeria, were a tribal dispute over land led to battles that left over twenty casualties (including five dead.)

March 20, 2007: In northeast Nigeria, a Christian high school teacher was beaten to death by her male students, who accused her of desecrating the Koran. Local Christians have also been complaining about Islamic radical groups kidnapping Christian children, so the kids could be raised as Moslems. More police have been sent to the area, to prevent the outbreak of more religious riots.

March 18, 2007: Three more people were kidnapped in the southeastern Nigeria. Two were Chinese oil workers, and the third a Nigerian. Police blame local tribal separatists (Biafrans) for the kidnapping.

 

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