Nigerian politician’s house bombed

LAGOS, Nigeria – 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.

AP