Nigerian militant group destroys major pipeline in southern Nigeria
19/9/2008 16:57
The Nigerian military group by the Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger Delta (MEND) has destroyed a major pipeline in southern Nigeria, according
to a statement issued overnight by the group.
The statement issued via E-mail
yesterday said that MEND members had destroyed a major pipeline belonging to
Shell Development Company at the Elem-Kalabari Cawthorne Channel axis in Rivers
state of Nigeria.
MEND on Tuesday destroyed the Orubiri flow station operated
by Shell in Rivers state of Nigeria in a new alliance attack, and warned
extending attacks to offshore oilfields and other Niger Delta states.
The
military group has launched a series of attacks on oil facilities and military
targets in the oil-rich Niger Delta region. It blew up a major trunk pipeline at
Nembe creak and captured oil and gas stations in the area on Sunday. It
destroyed crude oil pipeline at Bakana Front in Degema Local Government Area in
Nigeria's southeastern Rivers State on Monday.
Attack on Alakiri oil flow
station complex which belongs to the Shell Petroleum Development Company and
several oil pipelines were confirmed by the military and company sources later
on.
Militancy in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region has long become a
big headache for Nigerian government, which has created a brand-new Ministry of
Niger Delta allegedly to facilitate peace and development in the
region.
Since the beginning of 2006, militant groups has emerged in Niger
Delta region, fighting for more local control of natural resources, especially
oil, through the ways of kidnapping oil workers and attacks on oil facilities,
leading to about 25 percent oil production drop compared with the country's peak
oil output of 2.6 million barrels per day.
Xinhua
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