Nigeria's main opposition militant group, MEND, has attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell and threatens more attacks to come. Fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) reportedly assailed the Utorogu gas plant in the Delta state. The Joint Task Force (JTF), a military outfit in the Niger Delta, however killed three of the militants during an operation meant to repel their attack.
A spokesman for Shell in Nigeria confirmed the attack and said one employee of its Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture and two contractors had been hurt but were in a stable condition and hospitalized in Warri, Delta State.
Oil facilities in the Niger Delta, Nigeria's main oil producing region, are frequently attacked by militants, who claim to fight for what they call the exploitation of the people of the region by multinational companies.
"MEND decided on this location (Utorogu) to dispel the false sense of peace and security in the Delta state which the governor has been boasting about," the militant MEND group declared in an emailed statement.
"It is also to send a message to the oil companies that all the pipelines they have repaired in the western Delta will soon be in need of repairs again."
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has changed the security paradigm in Nigeria since its emergence in early 2006 by multiplying attacks, kidnappings of foreign oil workers and sabotage at oil installations on land and offshore.