Nigerian militants threaten ‘bloody fight’ in 2008

Lagos, Nigeria – The violence in Nigeria’s oil producing Niger Delta region, which has helped to push the price of crude oil to the US$100 mark, seems set to worsen in the new year, after the region’s main militants threatened to unleash a ”bloody fight in 2008” to paralyse ”100 per cent of Nigeria’s oil export”.

In a statement e-mailed to journalists here, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) warned civilians in the oil producing states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers to avoid milling around army check points and armoured personnel carriers ”as they have become targets for attacks by explosive devices”.

The violence in the oil region took a turn for the worse towards the end of 2007, when the militants announced they had obtained a classified military report detailing plans to attack their camps and decimate them.

Since then, several deadly attacks have taken place in and around Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state.

On Christmas and New Year days, suspected militants attacked police stations in the city, killing a total of at least seven policemen and many more civilians.

Panapress