Militants blow up oil pipeline in Niger Delta

Dec 23, 2006, 12:41 GMT

Abuja - Militants blew up two oil pipelines belonging to the state-run Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation in Ekpan, Warri on Saturday

A fire that ensued engulfed the area and was still raging, local reports said. No group had claimed responsibility for the action.

Army Brigadier-General Alfred Ilogho, commander of troops deployed in the area to ensure safety and security of oil facilities, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the fire would soon be put out.

Troops, operating under the code-name 'Operation Restore Hope,' would comb the area and neighbouring states, particularly Rivers State, to capture the assailants, he said.

Ilogho said a cursory investigation in the affected area raised suspicions that the assailants used dynamite to blow up the facility.

He said he suspected also that the assailants must have been the same group that used dynamite to blow up some cars in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also in the Niger Delta, earlier in the week.

The militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta claimed responsibility for the Port Harcourt bombing of a night club belonging to Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell, earlier in the week and that of Italian oil company, Agip's premises.

The security situation in the Niger Delta had been deteroriating since February when militant groups stepped up their use of force and began kidnapping expatriate oil workers to demand a bigger say in the control of oil and gas resources in the area.

Nigeria depends on oil exports from the area for more than 90 per cent of its total annual income. But the country has lost over one- quarter of its daily oil output of 2.1 million barrels since agitations heightened in the Niger Delta.

Militant groups in the region are demanding the release of ethnic Ijaw leaders in detention in Abuja, particularly, those of impeached governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and separatist leader Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo.

Alamieyeseigha is standing trial for graft, while Asari-Dokubo is on trial for treason.