Nigeria oil delta militants say killed 3 soldiers

Shell working on containing oil spill

LAGOS – Militants in Nigeria’s oil producing southern delta said on Saturday they had killed three soldiers in a remote area close to a major natural gas plant, and threatened to carry out more attacks.

An army spokesman said three soldiers were abducted, but not killed as far as he knew, in the Soku area of Bayelsa state, one of the three main oil producing states in the Niger Delta.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimed responsibility. MEND is holding three foreign oil staff hostage in a different part of the delta and has staged attacks on oil facilities that have cut Nigeria’s output by a quarter.

“We confirm that three soldiers were killed in this encounter … The military patrol boat and a sizeable quantity of weapons and ammunition were captured,” MEND said in a statement e-mailed to journalists.

Reuters