This weekly update spotlights lethal violence in the Niger Delta with a focus on the resurgence of gun violence in Rivers State. According to data (see map above), gun violence caused over 240 fatalities in Rivers State between January 2021 and June 2023. Recent incidents indicate a rise in gun violence in the state, particularly targeted killing of residents and government security operatives by gunmen. In August 2023, for example, gunmen allegedly killed two soldiers and abducted six persons including an expatriate at a road construction site in Ogboloma community, Abua/Odual LGA. Separately, gunmen reportedly killed a police inspector and made away with his rifle in front of a popular hotel at Olu Obasanjo Road in Port Harcourt, the state capital. In another incident, gunmen suspected to be pirates reportedly hijacked a passenger boat along the Soku-Abonema waterways in Akuku-Toru LGA. More recently, on August 26, 2023, gunmen reportedly killed two youths and injured five other residents assigned to provide security and surveillance of oil pipelines at the site of a recent oil spill in Bodo community, Gokana LGA.
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