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Abuja (AFP) Nov 13, 2010 The Nigerian military on Saturday warned armed gangs in oil-rich Niger Delta saying that it would not tolerate their criminal acts, including kidnappping and brigandage, and would clear out their camps. "We have observed with concern some criminal acts within the past few days, by some people claiming to be militants," chief of defence staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petirin, said in a statement. "We are all aware of the kidnappings, illegal boarding of oil rigs and other acts of brigandage that have been committed by these criminals.... These people are criminals and will be treated as such," he said. He said that many of these militants hide in camps in the Niger Delta creeks, adding that these camps "will no longer be tolerated." Petirin warned all law abiding citizens who live around the camps to leave "immediately. Enough is enough". "All effort will be made to assist those who may need to relocate temporarily until the clearing of these den of common criminals have been concluded," he also said. The military have in the past weeks located and destroyed tens of militant camps. A statement purporting to be from Nigeria's main militant group MEND on Friday named seven foreign hostages it said were taken in an offshore attack this week in southern Akwa Ibom State. The statement also said the militants decided to release three French oil workers and a Thai national seized in September "owing to their generally poor state of health." The seven foreign workers -- two Americans, two French, two Indonesians and one Canadian -- were captured when gunmen attacked a rig and support vessel off Nigeria on Monday. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has carried out scores of attacks in the region in recent years. It also claimed responsibility for twin car bombings on independence day October 1 that killed at least 12 people, the first such attack in the capital Abuja. The group claims to be fighting on behalf of local people in the deeply impoverished Niger Delta, but it has also been seen as an umbrella organisation for criminal gangs.
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