Nigeria: It has emerged that 12 Nigerian policemen are missing presumed dead following an ambush on their boat in the Niger Delta region.
Gunmen attacked a police boat in the delta's creeks on Friday, officials said, in what appeared to be a dispute over amnesty payments.
They denied the attack was linked to an announcement by militants this week they might end their ceasefire.
A resumption of violence in the delta could hit Nigeria's vital oil industry.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has been inactive since a 2009 amnesty was put in place.
But Mend threatened to resume violence after its leader, Henry Okah, was recently jailed by a South African court for terrorism.
The group had been fighting to gain a greater share of the oil wealth from its part of southern Nigeria.
Pay dispute
A boat carrying some 50 police officers was on its way to a funeral when it developed engine trouble in one of the creeks.
"The officers became soft target for some hoodlums, who we have confirmed were part of a militant group that was supposed to be enjoying an amnesty," police commissioner Kingsley Omire said.
All but the 12 officers reported missing were now safe, he added.
Thousands of former militants are supposed to be receiving a monthly salary as part of the amnesty agreement.
However, whilst some former commanders have grown extremely rich out of the deal, some of the junior militants have not received what they are owed, the BBC's Will Ross reports from Lagos.
President Goodluck Jonathan has just ordered a committee to look into the possibility of making a peace deal to solve the insecurity in another part of the country, our correspondent adds.
In northern Nigeria, Islamist militants have carried out countless bombings and shootings in recent years.
On Saturday, 11 people were killed during an attack on the home of the deputy governor of Adamawa state. Two guards had their throats slit whilst nine others were shot.
The area has seen previous attacks by the Islamist militants known as Boko Haram but it is also possible that the killings were the the result of a political feud, our correspondent says.
-BBC
