The Niger Delta Avengers, a new militant group demanding a sovereign state of the Niger Delta, on Friday said its fighters had blown up a large gas and crude pipeline operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) near Warri, Delta State late Thursday.
The militant group said it was able to achieve this feat despite the fact that the pipeline was protected by soldiers – an apparent attempt to mock the capacity of the Nigerian military to prevent the attack.
The Avengers announced the attack via its Twitter handle.
“At 11:45pm on Thursday.@NDAvengers blew up other #NNPC Gas and Crude trunkline close to Warri. Pipeline that was heavily guarded by Military”, the group tweeted. There was no independent confirmation of the incident as at the time of publishing this report.
The Avengers, which has claimed responsibility for several attacks on critical oil and gas infrastructure in the Niger Delta since February, 2016 had rejected a meeting recently convened in Abuja by the federal government, saying it was out to secure self-rule for people of the oil-rich region.
It also warned of its readiness to carry out an attack that it claimed will “shock the whole world”.
“The Niger Delta stakeholder’s meeting is an insult to the people of Niger Delta. What we need is a Sovereign State not pipeline Contracts.
“To the IOC’s, Indigenous Oil Companies and Nigeria Military. Watch out something big is about to happen and it will shock the whole world”, the group tweeted on Friday.
