Nigerian ethnic clashes kill six
WARRI, Nigeria (Reuters) -- At least six people have been killed and scores injured in a new outbreak of communal fighting near the southwestern Nigerian oil city of Warri, where more than 20 died in three days of ethnic warfare earlier this month, witnesses said Tuesday.
The clashes Sunday between rival groups in Ozoro district of Delta state also left houses burned, they said.
But Delta state police said only three people died in the skirmishes sparked by a chieftaincy dispute and disagreements over sharing of amenities, contracts and jobs from oil major Royal Dutch/Shell which operates in the area.
"A two-year old chieftaincy dispute and disagreements over the largesse they get from Shell caused the fighting, but we have beefed up security in the area and calm has returned," Delta state commissioner of police John Ahmadu told Reuters by phone from Warri.
A Shell spokesman said the company was not aware of the clashes and that there was no report of disruptions.
Repeated clashes between rival Niger Delta communities over benefits from oil multinationals producing Nigeria's mainstay crude oil have increased fears of wider unrest in the multi-ethnic country ahead of national elections in April.
More than 10,000 have died in ethnic, political and religious violence in Nigeria since the country's return to democracy in 1999 after 15 years of military rule.
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