Navy, Militants in bloody clash on Bayelsa creeks

 * 3 feared killed, 4 abducted

A TEAM of naval personnel and a band of insurgents were locked in a bloody clash on the early hours of Easter Monday on the Nembe creeks in Bayelsa State, one of the major oil producers in the Niger Delta area.

In their acount of the incident, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed that at about 0300 hours on Monday, April 13, 2009, the armed security force allegedly opened fire on some youths in the Nembe Creeks in Bayelsa state who then regrouped and attacked the military position which resulted in the ''humiliating defeat'' of the better equipped military.

Spokesman of the insurgent group, Jomo Gbomo, who made this known to our correspondent in an on-line statemenmt said, ''three naval ratings were killed and four abducted.  Two fully armed gunboats were also seized and stripped of all its military hardware''.

Gbomo, however, pointed out that MEND fighters were not involved in the incident, adding, ''we will intervene to secure the release of the captured service men from the angry youths responsible''.

Acording to MEND, ''this incident makes us wonder if these are the type of men the government of Nigeria intends to use to fight more organized groups in the Niger Delta. The government continues to put at risk men who do not have the zeal to defend what is not right. The outcome of this incident can clearly give an insight into what a bigger battle will turn out to be like when the military launches it's much talked about invasion''.

Efforts to get official comments from the Joint Task Force (JTF) in Bayelsa did not pay off. But a soldier who once served in Delta State told our correspondent that they had no information on the lose of a soldier in the Nembe clash.

''What i can tell you on my honour as a soldier is that the militants have ben sustaining heavy casualties in exchange of gunfire with the operatives of the JTF'', the soldier said without giving much details.

In the mean time, MEND said, ''it is not too late for the government of Umaru Yar'Adua to do what is right and begin a genuine peace process to avoid starting a civil war''.