Soboma George killed, body whereabout unknown

Soboma George, once described as one of the most powerful gang leaders in the rundown oil city of Port Harcourt has been shot dead.

He was shot at about 8:00pm Nigeria time alongside his girlfriend inside his car by a rival cult group in Borokiri area of Port-Harcourt and his body taking away by the rival cult group

George who hit the headlines when some 60 militants wielding heavy machine guns marched through the centre of the city, fought off the police and the army, and retrieved him from a police station.

Sources told pointblanknews.com that a third person inside George's car sustained serious injuries during the gun battle.

George first became known not as a political militant, but as a powerful member of an all-male gang called the Icelanders. Its membership is said to number in the thousands and it's just one of several gangs or "confraternities" - with names like the KKK, Greenlanders and Vikings, that operate in the city and further afield.

In the 2003 elections, his gangs were hired and armed by politicians to fight their political opponents, steal ballot boxes, and generally rig the vote. As one local resident said: "it was less of an election, more of a low-intensity armed struggle."