Villagers hacked to death in political clashes

DOZENS of villagers have been killed, many hacked to death, in three days of clashes between rival political factions battling for influence in an oil-rich area of the Niger Delta, activists and witnesses said on Tuesday.

Thousands of refugees fleeing the mayhem in Nembe town were still arriving on Tuesday in neighbouring communities in south-eastern Bayelsa state, after a weekend of violence. They included a woman who apparently escaped by swimming across a river after suffering gunshot wounds.

Dozens of homes and businesses were razed.