Nigerian rebels claim new attack on Shell facility

LAGOS (AFP)

The group on Saturday vowed to thwart a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas pipeline project linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.

On Friday, three African countries — Algeria, Niger and Nigeria — signed a deal in Abuja to build the more than 4,000-kilometre (2,485-mile) pipeline conveying gas destined for the European market from the Niger Delta in Nigeria, via Niger and Algeria.

No date was announced for the start of construction, but the first delivery of gas is scheduled in 2015.

MEND urged oil firms still operating in the restive Niger Delta to leave immediately, threatening to carry out new attacks.

AFP