Militants in
Niger Delta have bombed a state-run oil pipeline near the southern port city of
Warri, Delta State, the second attack within a week, officials said.
According to
AFP, the explosion occurred this morning, November 8, and is the second attack
in one week.
“The line
which was undergoing repair after the previous attack … was billed for
commissioning either today or tomorrow,” before the latest attack, the chairman
of Batan community Dickson Ogugu told AFP.
The community
leader also said that four surveillance guards deployed to protect the Trans
Forcados export line narrowly escaped death after the militants opened fire on
them.
He added: “The
hoodlums after chasing them from the spot came down from their speedboat,
planted dynamite on swamp boogie, barge, crane and on the line.”
“Unfortunately,
only the dynamite on the barge exploded and immediately sank into the water. As
I speak to you, the military are at the scene of the incident trying to
dismantle the other dynamites.”
The bombing
had early been confirmed by an army officer, who pleaded anonymity.
“We heard the
shots in the middle of the night, but as you know, we do not patrol the area at
night, so there was nothing we could do,” the Army official said.
The line was
previously bombed by the ‘sabotaging’ militants, last week, after President
Muhammadu Buhari had met with their representatives to discuss how to end the
issues bedeviling the region.
The
state-owned Pipelines and Product Marketing Company (PPMC) operates the
pipeline which receives crude from the Batan flowstation and feeds the Forcados
export terminal.
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