Will Nigeria oil offensive backfire?

By Andrew Walker  BBC News, Warri For the past 13 days the Nigerian military has been mounting an offensive in the swampy creeks of the Niger Delta, pursuing oil militants who kidnapped 15 sailors, 18 soldiers and hijacked a petrol tanker belonging to the national oil company. They say the continuing military action is an attempt to rescue their men or confirm if they are dead. The militants started it, they say, and the military is just reacting, according to commander Gen Sarkin Yakin Bello, whose name means "lord of war" in the northern Hausa language.  Tompolo is not a monster, but if he came to me I'd hand him in to the authorities  Ijaw leader Edwin Clark Profile: Oil militant kingpin But security and diplomatic sources have told the BBC the military action in Delta State is part of a new "get tough" approach which has been on the army's drawing board for months in an attempt to deal with key militant leaders from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend). The clock is ticking on the offensive, as it is disrupting business, and may begin to have a bad effect on Nigeria's already depressed oil industry. The military action could backfire and stir up militancy in the western Niger Delta, observers say. It could also spark ethnic conflict in a race to secure lucrative patronage from government and business in the Delta.