Blood, recriminations in wake of Nigeria mission

SOKOTO, Nigeria (AP) -- An attempted rescue by British special forces and Nigerian troops of a British and an Italian hostage ended with a blood-splattered house and a dispute between two European nations.


Military forces punched through on Thursday to a house where the two hostages were held but by the time they arrived the two men were dead. Details of how and when they died were unclear, said British Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman Steve Field. But Field said "early indications were that both men were murdered by their captors before they could be rescued."


Gunfire echoed throughout the Mabera neighborhood in the northwestern city of Sokoto during Thursday's nine-hour operation, said residents. Nigeria's military also used an armored personnel carrier to attempt to storm the building.


British military and intelligence officers had been working within Nigeria for several months ahead of the operation, before a contingent of special forces - drawn from the elite Special Boat Service - were deployed in recent weeks, officials familiar with details said.


The house where Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara were found was splattered with blood on Friday. Calm had returned to the streets. McManus and Lamolinara had been working on a bank construction project in the city before they were kidnapped last May. The kidnappers claimed ties to al-Qaida.


Prescription drugs, including penicillin, anti-malarial tablets and other toiletries, were scattered on the floor of the house, suggesting the men had been there for some time.

Personalities overshadow policy in Nigeria polls

Ibadan once carried the hopes of postcolonial Africa on the shoulders of its rolling hills, the home of oil-rich Nigeria's first university and as one of the continent's most populous cities in 1960.


Now, the former stronghold of the Oyo kingdom is known for running street battles encouraged by local politicians hungry for power on the eve of crucial elections in Nigeria.


Voters will cast ballots Saturday on who should occupy seats in the country's National Assembly, positions worth more than $1 million in salaries and perks, not counting the power to subvert the billions of dollars in oil revenues the country earns each year.


But whether insecurity will force voters to abandon the polls or those votes will count in a nation where thuggery accompanies elections remains to be unseen.


Politicians "are not really there to serve the people; they want to serve themselves," said Idowu Johnson, a political science lecturer at the University of Ibadan. "The monetary attachments to the positions are why they want to kill themselves for it ... by any means. They are willing to sacrifice their own children."


Saturday's election is the start of three weeks of polls in Africa's most populous nation, home to 150 million people. An estimated 73.5 million voters also will pick a president for the nation and cast ballots in local elections.


President Goodluck Jonathan and the head of the country's Independent National Electoral Commission have promised to provide a free and fair election in a country where coups and military rulers served as the norm for decades. That promise comes against a history of flawed polls marred by violence and ballot box stuffing since the nation became a democracy in 1999.

Nigeria debates whether to hold election debate

In Nigeria's young democracy, the major debate over the coming presidential election appears to be whether to have a debate at all.

Televised debates have yet to take hold in Nigeria, where political discourse often simply amounts to rowdy rallies and stern-faced posters of politicians plastered to bridge pillars. The last memorable debate that aired across the oil-rich nation involved candidates in an annulled 1993 election widely perceived as the country's most credible poll in its 50 years of independence.

Now, there's an effort to change that as a crucial presidential election looms. A youth-oriented group on Wednesday called for a debate between presidential contenders. A satellite television news channel plans a debate for later this week while others also consider the idea.

"The time for frivolous rhetoric has long passed," said Amara Nwankpa, a 32-year-old activist associated with the youth debate group called What About Us?

"I think it is now time for us to soberly and seriously look at each of the candidates," he said.

Nigerians will vote for a new president April 9 in the middle of three weeks of elections for state and federal positions. The leading candidate is President Goodluck Jonathan, the nominee of the ruling People's Democratic Party. Jonathan's face can be seen on billboards, buses and advertisements everywhere in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, a sign of the ruling party's muscle and money.

But policy often takes a back seat at the rallies Jonathan flies off to across Nigeria's 36 states. The same can be said for candidates of other regional opposition parties challenging Jonathan, as politics comes down to personality and the promise of lucrative government contracts bankrolled by the nation's oil revenues.

While the ruling party candidate, Jonathan still remains something of an enigma to some Nigerians. The marine biologist, who is fond of traditional black caftans and bowler hats, took over the presidency after the May 2010 death of elected leader Umaru Yar'Adua. Jonathan is soft-spoken and an academic, very different from former military ruler and President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose verbal antics still make headlines.

Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa -- country by country

Demonstrations have spread across parts of the Middle East and North Africa. Here is the latest from each country and the roots of the unrest.

Friday developments:

BAHRAIN

Hundreds of people were injured in Bahrain Friday, when rival groups clashed over an attempted march in the town of Riffa, a residential area where the ruling Al-Khalifa family lives.

The national health ministry said 774 people were injured and 107 were hospitalized in the wake of the fighting.

Roots of unrest:

Protesters initially took to the streets of Manama to demand reform and the introduction of a constitutional monarchy. But some are now calling for the removal of the royal family, which has led the Persian Gulf state since the 18th century. Young members of the country's Shiite Muslim majority have staged protests in recent years to complain about discrimination, unemployment and corruption, issues they say the country's Sunni rulers have done little to address. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said authorities launched a clampdown on dissent in 2010. It accused the government of torturing some human rights activists.

Nigeria army seizes explosive-filled trucks

A Nigerian army spokesman says soldiers have stopped trucks loaded with weapons and explosives in Nigeria's restive north.

Capt. Charles Eckoacha says the trucks carried more than 33,000 pounds (15,000 kilograms) of ammunition along with explosive material, detonators and other equipment used to make bombs. He told journalists on Friday that police seized the cargo and arrested a driver and a policeman who was escorting the trucks.

Jos is the epicenter of religious violence in Nigeria's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands. Politics, jobs and land often motivate violence that falls along religious lines.