Nigerian forces take on militia in oil war

Nigerian troops battled militia forces in the creeks and mangrove swamps of Africa’s leading oil region, pressing an offensive that has brought refugees from fighting streaming by the thousands into the main oil hub.

The crackdown – with soldiers sealing off the river approaches to the hub, Port Harcourt, and helicopter gunships patrolling overhead – comes as the latest in yearlong violence that at times has shut down up to 40% of oil production in the world’s number seven oil giant.