PORT HARCOURT (Nigeria), Jan 29: Militants freed 125 suspected criminals when they stormed a police complex in the oil capital Port Harcourt, Nigerian police said on Monday.

Two bystanders were killed on Sunday in the fierce, four-hour gun battle between militants and security forces in the densely populated old part of the city during which the militants torched a police building and about 10 vehicles.

“They freed 105 inmates from the criminal investigation department and 20 from the central police station,” said police spokeswoman Ireju Barasua.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said it deployed 50 fighters to free one of its leaders, Sobomabo George, who had been arrested by police earlier in the day for a minor traffic offence.

The police estimated about 300 militants were involved in the attack, and said a man and a 10-year-old girl were killed by stray bullets.

The armed forces are unable to control the delta's maze of mangrove-lined creeks and major cities such as Port Harcourt and Warri have also descended into anarchy.

Poverty fuels crime and militancy in the delta's neglected towns and villages, where people living without electricity or clean water feel cheated out of the oil wealth being pumped from their lands.—Reuters