Militants battled security forces on Wednesday in two areas of Nigeria's oil-rich delta after armed men attacked a pumping station and an oil convoy, officials said.
A major militant group said in an e-mail they killed nine soldiers and captured two government gunboats at the pumping station belonging to a Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary. The army gave no casualty figures and it was not possible to confirm the militants' claim.
The convoy -- attacked in a separate incident -- was carrying soldiers and supplies for Agip, a subsidiary of Italian oil company Eni SpA, Brigadier General Alfred Ilogho said. The convoy was on its way to an export terminal about 80km west of Nigeria's oil capital, Port Harcourt, Ilogho said.
Eni spokesman Gianni Di Giovanni said late on Wednesday that the company didn't have information about the attack. He added that Agip oil convoys are often local contractors.
"Attacks are frequent, and so is their lack of success. We must wait,"Di Giovanni said.
Chief Sara Igbe said militants attacked the pumping station in his community of Ekulama, about 40km west of Port Harcourt, sparking a battle with government forces. The Shell station pumps about 70,000 barrels a day.
"Youth from the community and the military resisted the attempts to shut down [the oil facility], and that's when shots were fired," Igbe said.
An e-mail from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta -- a major militant group -- said they killed nine soldiers and captured two gunboats in an hour and half of fighting at the facility. The group said they acted defensively after being attacked by army gunboats and a helicopter gunship.
The militants said that they planned further attacks and warned oil companies to evacuate staff in the region.
"We will commence with a number of strategic attacks on targets of relevance. This will commence with effect from today and will increase in severity depending on the response from the Nigerian military," the e-mail said.
Witnesses said they saw government attack helicopters racing west from Port Harcourt toward the areas where the two attacks occurred.
The two attacks followed the release earlier on Wednesday of a group of Nigerians taken hostage on Monday. Biji Ojediran said that the last of the 25 hostage seized in a deadly raid on Monday were liberated overnight after nine had been set free earlier.
Gunmen also seized several foreign oil workers late on Tuesday, who remain in captivity according to security officials.
The British Foreign Office said four British oil workers were among those taken outside Port Harcourt. The workers were kidnapped from a residential compound close to Ekit, in Akwa Ibom state, it said.
Nigerian police spokesman Suur Chafa said a Romanian, an Indonesian and a Malaysian were also missing and believed taken hostage.
Heavy rain and strong winds yesterday disrupted flights, trains and ferries, forcing the closure of roads across large parts of New Zealand’s North Island, while snapping power links to tens of thousands. Domestic media reported a few flights had resumed operating by afternoon from the airport in Wellington, the capital, although cancelations were still widespread after airport authorities said most morning flights were disrupted. Air New Zealand said it hoped to resume services when conditions ease later yesterday, after it paused operations at Wellington, Napier and Palmerston North airports. Online images showed flooded semi-rural neighborhoods, inundated homes, trees fallen on vehicles and collapsed
FRAYED: Strains between the US-European ties have ruptured allies’ trust in Washington, but with time, that could be rebuilt, the Michigan governor said China is providing crucial support for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and could end the war with a phone call, US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said. “China could call [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and end this war tomorrow and cut off his dual-purpose technologies that they’re selling,” Whitaker said during a Friday panel at the Munich Security Conference. “China could stop buying Russian oil and gas.” “You know, this war is being completely enabled by China,” the US envoy added. Beijing and Moscow have forged an even tighter partnership since the start of the war, and Russia relies on China for critical parts
Two sitting Philippine senators have been identified as “coperpetrators” in former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC), documents released by prosecutors showed. Philippine senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Christopher Go are among eight current and former officials named in a document dated Feb. 13 and posted to the court’s Web site. ICC prosecutors have charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity, alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders as part of his “war on drugs.” “Duterte and his coperpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralize’ alleged criminals in the Philippines
In a softly lit Shanghai bar, graduate student Helen Zhao stretched out both wrists to have her pulse taken — the first step to ordering the house special, a bespoke “health” cocktail based on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). “TCM bars” have popped up in several cities across China, epitomizing what the country’s stressed-out, time-poor youth refer to as “punk wellness,” or “wrecking yourself while saving yourself.” At Shanghai’s Niang Qing, a TCM doctor in a white coat diagnoses customers’ physical conditions based on the pulse readings, before a mixologist crafts custom drinks incorporating the herbs and roots prescribed for their ailments.
RSS