Nigerian Politician's House Bombed

[Ghost in the Machine]

Published: 5/16/07, 5:46 PM EDT
By KATHARINE HOURELD
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Attackers blew up the country home of Nigeria's vice president-elect with dynamite Wednesday, authorities said, as violence escalated in the country's oil-rich south before a government handover this month.

Militant groups making an array of demands, including a greater share of government oil revenues, have carried out bombings, kidnappings and protests since 2005 that have already shut down a third of production in Africa's oil giant.

Meanwhile, gunmen abducted a Nigerian toddler at an affluent suburb of Port Harcourt Wednesday, the latest kidnapping to hit the troubled region.

Two policemen were killed in the early morning attack on Vice President-elect Goodluck Jonathan's house and a nearby police station, officials said. It was the fourth fatal attack on police in the Niger Delta in a month.

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