Less
than 24 hours after a dialogue between President Muhammadu Buhari and
leaders of the Niger Delta to resolve the crisis in the region,
unrepentant militants on Wednesday
blasted an oil pipeline belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development
Company (SPDC) in Batan community in Warri South West Local Government
area of Delta State.
Sources said that the incident occurred at SPDC Camp Five between 4 and 5 a.m. with a huge fire enveloping the site of the attack.
“Suspected militants attacked the SPDC pipeline in Batan 4 and 5 a.m.
with dynamites. As I am speaking, the place is engulfed with fire but
efforts are being made to put it off,” a community source said.
Another community source
confirmed the incident, stating that they heard a huge explosion in the
early hours of the day only to discover it was a pipeline belonging to
Shell that had been attacked.
“We heard a huge explosion. As
usual, when we came out, we discovered that the Shell pipeline has been
attacked again. We are not sure whether it was militants that caused it
or not.”
The Niger Delta Advengers
(NDA), the militant group that has claimed responsibility for the
destruction of oil facilities in the Niger Delta, was yet to claim
responsibility for this one at the time of filing this report.
The same pipeline had been attacked by suspected militants on July 18, this year without any resistance by the military stationed in the area.
Security sources disclosed
that the latest attack by the militants might be as a result of the
commencement of repair work on the pipeline while negotiations are
ongoing between the Niger Delta leaders and the Federal Government.
“You know that they have
always warned that no repair work should be carried out on any of the
oil pipelines breached. Maybe they are angry that SPDC has commenced
repair work and had to resort to the attack,” a military source said.
An undercover security agent
however had a contrary view, claiming that illegal oil bunkerers have
deployed a new tactic of engaging militants to breach pipelines to
divert the attention of security agents away from their illegal act.
Credit: ThisdayLive
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