More 'oil attacks' launched
2008-09-15 17:46
Lagos - Militants attacked troops guarding an oil-pumping station in southern Nigeria on Monday, raising the spectre of a stepped-up conflict a day after declaring a state of war in Africa's oil giant.
An hour-long gunfight that followed the attack marked a third day of rare ground battles between the militants and Nigeria's armed forces.
Fighters riding in about 10 speedboats launched the pre-dawn raid on security personnel at the pumping station operated by Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, a military spokesperson in the southern Niger Delta region.
Musa said the so-called flow station may have been damaged during the battle, but that no government forces were injured. Shell officials said they were investigating reports of attacks on their facilities but could give no further details.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the region's main militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement e-mailed to the media. It said the fighters stormed the facility and "razed it to the ground", killing workers and soldiers inside. But it gave no casualty figures.
The group has mostly focused on hobbling Nigeria's oil industry since it emerged nearly three years ago, bombing pipelines in hopes of forcing the federal government to send more revenues to the impoverished oil-producing south.
But a military task force involving marine, land and air forces has stepped up its anti-militant activities in recent weeks, and the militant group said on Sunday that the ground battles in recent days meant the region was in a state of war.
It was unclear if the declaration would have any real effect on the ground in the Niger Delta. Neither side has sought a full-blown civil war, although Nigerian media have reported that some elements in the military were pushing for more-robust attacks on the militants.
The militants, who analysts say are motivated by money as well as politics, say they want more federally held oil funds for their states, which remain impoverished despite five decades of production in Africa's oil giant. Their attacks have cut about one-fifth of Nigeria's normal oil output, helping send crude prices to all-time highs in international markets.
The militants also said they blew up other pieces of oil infrastructure, but those claims couldn't be immediately verified. The group warned international oil companies to stay away from the region.
The militants said they had attacked a military outpost in recent weeks, killing 29 military personnel in response to alleged killings of civilians. The government denied that any attacks took place. The accounts could not be independently verified.
Large-scale battles between the militants and military are rare. While the military often skirmishes with gunmen during chance boat encounters on the region's waterways, it has avoided major attacks on militant camps and other permanent positions.
- AP