PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - At least three people were killed in a turf dispute between rival armed gangs in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, one resident and a security source said on Tuesday.
The gun battle over control of stolen oil in Sama, a village near the main industrial city of Port Harcourt, prompted hundreds of residents to flee early Tuesday morning, said a female resident who asked not to be named.
The middle-aged mother said she saw at least three dead bodies when she left Sama for Port Harcourt.
A security source said at least 12 militants were killed in the clashes, which did not involve any Nigerian security forces.
The fighting underscores the deteriorating security situation in the delta, the hub of Nigeria's 2 million barrels per day oil industry. The unrest has shut down a fifth of output and helped push global energy prices to record highs.
A private security source working in the oil industry said the violence was a continuation of fighting which broke out three weeks ago between two rival militant factions -- Soboma George and Farah.
Security sources believe the armed groups have links to Nigeria's most prominent militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
Insecurity in the vast wetlands region surged in early 2006 when militants complaining of poverty started blowing up oil pipelines and kidnapping foreign oil workers.
Criminal gangs have taken advantage of the breakdown in law and order and the instability has become as much about control of a lucrative trade in stolen oil and abductions for ransom as about political struggle.
The gun battle over control of stolen oil in Sama, a village near the main industrial city of Port Harcourt, prompted hundreds of residents to flee early Tuesday morning, said a female resident who asked not to be named.
The middle-aged mother said she saw at least three dead bodies when she left Sama for Port Harcourt.
A security source said at least 12 militants were killed in the clashes, which did not involve any Nigerian security forces.
The fighting underscores the deteriorating security situation in the delta, the hub of Nigeria's 2 million barrels per day oil industry. The unrest has shut down a fifth of output and helped push global energy prices to record highs.
A private security source working in the oil industry said the violence was a continuation of fighting which broke out three weeks ago between two rival militant factions -- Soboma George and Farah.
Security sources believe the armed groups have links to Nigeria's most prominent militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
Insecurity in the vast wetlands region surged in early 2006 when militants complaining of poverty started blowing up oil pipelines and kidnapping foreign oil workers.
Criminal gangs have taken advantage of the breakdown in law and order and the instability has become as much about control of a lucrative trade in stolen oil and abductions for ransom as about political struggle.
