Nigerian militants say Shell pipeline destroyed

LAGOS (AFP) – A Nigerian rebel group said Tuesday it had blown up and destroyed a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline in the latest attack in its “oil war” on western firms.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) also said it would soon release two South African hostages it rescued from pirates but gunmen abducted a Briton in the region’s oil capital as tensions spread.


Shell did not immediately confirm the pipeline attack, but MEND has already attacked a Shell flow station since declaring its war on Sunday. It attacked a Chevron facility hours before the declaration.

A Nigerian army officer however said the attack on the Shell installation was repelled.

“Soldiers sighted the militants in time and confronted them so they dropped their explosives which detonated,” Lieutenant-Colonel Musa Sagir, spokesman for the unit of the Nigerian army tasked with policing the Niger Delta, told AFP.

MEND is the most prominent armed group in the Delta region which says it is fighting for local people to get a greater share of the huge oil revenues. Since it began operating in early 2006 it has cut Nigeria’s oil production by a quarter.

AFP