Nigeria: September 2, 2004

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A group of men armed with automatic weapons, walked into a crowded Port Harcourt restaurant and opened fire. They killed nine people, then got into their cars and drove away, shooting at people on the street, killing another nine. This took place in the middle of the coastal oil producing region, where heavily armed criminal gangs make millions of dollars a year stealing oil from pipelines, extorting the oil companies and other criminal activities. Police have been unable to put a stop to the mayhem. The gangs are tribe based, as are many of the neighborhoods and rural districts. This leads to bloody raids as the tribe based gangs try to take over new territory and intimidate their rivals.