Nigerian militants warn of attacks on oil sector

Reuters

18 January 2011

Nigerian militants warn of attacks on oil sector

LAGOS Jan 18 (Reuters) - A Nigerian militant group warned on Tuesday of attacks on fuel depots and vehicles transporting petroleum products, saying it would launch the strikes in response to the arrest of its members.

"Advance warning for immediate evacuation is hereby issued to residents in close proximity to depots storing petroleum products such as aviation fuel, diesel, kerosene, petrol, propane gas and engine oil," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an emailed statement.

The warning of a "ferocious attack on the downstream oil sector" was sent to news organisations from an address used in the past by MEND and was signed Jomo Gbomo, a pseudonym the group usually uses in such messages.

MEND claimed responsibility for car bombings in the capital Abuja on Oct. 1, but the group is divided, with many of its known commanders having accepted a 2009 government amnesty brokered by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Not all threats issued from its email address have been carried out in the past.