LAGOS (AFP) — A prominent militant group in the oil-rich Niger Delta said it planted an explosive device that set a tanker on fire Friday in Nigeria's main oil hub, Port Harcourt.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement that its fighters had detonated "a remote explosive device" that sparked the blaze on the berthed vessel.
The fire was extinguished by mid-afternoon, but smoke was still rising from the tanker, a Port Harcourt resident said.
There were no reports of any casualties.
The MEND statement said the attack had been carried out with information gleaned from "inside the military and secret service".
"We call on all oppressed citizens of the Niger Delta to do your own bit in your own way to regain freedom," the statement said.
MEND shot to prominence early last year with a string of kidnappings of foreign oil workers as well as attacks on oil company property.
The group says that contrary to criminal gangs operating in the Niger Delta, it is working to improve the lot of the ordinary people of the region.
Instability and violence slashed by a quarter oil output in Nigeria, the world's eighth-largest crude exporter, in 2006 and 2007 to 2.1 million barrels per day, according to the latest estimates.
In 2007, more than 200 foreign workers were taken hostage, often being released after a ransom was paid.
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