Nigerian militants claim oil attack, threaten more

ABUJA (Reuters) – A Nigerian militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has claimed responsibility for a raid on an oil export terminal on Thursday in which four expatriate workers were kidnapped.

MEND, which staged a series of attacks on the oil industry in February that shut down a fifth of Nigeria’s production capacity, threatened to launch more attacks within days.

The threat comes six days before Nigeria is due to host a meeting of
OPEC ministers in the capital Abuja. It also coincides with a turbulent time in Nigerian politics, with parties holding primaries ahead of next April’s elections.

“The following days will witness more attacks against oil industry targets. We will not entertain talk concerning the release of the captured hostages. They will be exchanged for at least a part of our demands,” a MEND spokesman wrote in an email to media late on Thursday.

Reuters