Abuja - Militant rebels carried out new attacks against oil installations in the Niger Delta, destroying a major oil pipeline near Asari Toru in Rivers State, late on Friday. Spokesman Jomo Gbomo of the rebel Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) confirmed the attack in a message to journalists and said the group would continue "to nibble everyday at the oilinfrastructure in Nigeria until oil exports reaches zero."
"Nigeria's military whose unprovoked attack on MEND positions prompted this oil war are no match for a guerrilla insurgency of this kind," he said.
The oil exploration in the Delta region had not brought any relief to the troubled and impoverished region, but inflicted harassment from the military to the population, he said, also pointing out environmental damage of farmlands, fishing and wild life sanctuaries.
The attack was the latest in a series of violence which has led to a decline by about 20 per cent in Nigerian oil production in recent months, making Angola to overtake Nigeria as the continent's largest oil exporter.
MEND had declare an "oil war" on the government last weekend, with almost daily attacks since.
