Original sentence: Prior to the massacre, twelve members of the Nigerian police were murdered by a gang near Odi, seven on November 4 and the remainder in the following days.The Odi massacre was an attack carried out on November 20, 1999, by the Nigerian military on the predominantly Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa State.The amount of civilians killed has been identified as ranging from "tens" and "scores" by Human Rights Watch to nearly 2500 by Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action.The attack came in the context of an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta over indigenous rights to oil resources and environmental protection.The government initially put the death toll at 43, including eight soldiers
Edited sentence: Many civilians (variously estimated from dozens to hundreds) were killed.Prior to the massacre, in the days beginning with November 4, 1999, seven members of the Nigerian police were murdered near Odi.That the massacre by the newly democratic government of President Olusegun Obasanjo was intended to send a message of continued military firmness in the region is substantiated by abundant graffiti left in the devastated city attacking the Ijaw as a people and taunting them for their efforts to control the oil in their homeland.The Odi massacre was an attack carried out by the Nigerian military on the predominantly Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa state.The attacks came in the context of an ongoing conflict in the Niger Delta over indigenous rights to oil resources and environmental protection