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| Nigerian army moves on militants | Nigerian army moves on militants |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The Nigerian army has sent extra troops and four gunboats to an oil platform occupied by militants since Sunday. | The Nigerian army has sent extra troops and four gunboats to an oil platform occupied by militants since Sunday. |
| A BBC correspondent in the region says local villagers are fleeing in case they are caught up in heavy fighting. | A BBC correspondent in the region says local villagers are fleeing in case they are caught up in heavy fighting. |
| The militants drove away the soldiers who were guarding the platform, run by Italian firm Eni, and seized about 28 people hostage, including some troops. | The militants drove away the soldiers who were guarding the platform, run by Italian firm Eni, and seized about 28 people hostage, including some troops. |
| President Umaru Yar'Adua pledged to try and bring peace to Nigeria's oil region when he took office last month. | President Umaru Yar'Adua pledged to try and bring peace to Nigeria's oil region when he took office last month. |
| The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar in the Niger Delta says Bayelsa State Governor Timipre Sylva is trying to talk to the militants to persuade them to vacate the platform peacefully. | |
| Analysts say negotiations may be more successful than the military option. | |
| "It won't be an easy task to dislodge the boys. What they do is that they mine the platform as soon as they take it over, and they challenge the soldiers to dare [to] fire a shot. If a shot is fired, the entire area will go up in flames," an oil industry source told the AFP news agency. | |
| 'Injustice' | |
| Last week, militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari was freed from prison on bail on health grounds after spending almost two years in custody on treason charges. | |
| His release had been one of the main demands of the armed groups who have staged attacks on oil installations in the Niger Delta. | |
| Southern militants are fighting to retain oil wealth in their regionHe has since urged his followers not to take hostages. | |
| "We are fighting injustice, we should not do injustice to other people," he said on his return to the main oil city, Port Harcourt. | |
| But there are many different armed group in the region - some with political demands for more of Nigeria's oil wealth to be used to help local people, others criminal, seeking ransom payments from foreign oil companies. | |
| Our reporter says no group has claimed responsibility for the seizure of the platform in the Ogbainbiri district of Bayelsa State. | |
| Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer but most of its people live in poverty. | |
| The violence in the Niger Delta has led to a 25% cut in Nigeria's output, costing about $4bn last year. |