Oil line on fire; militants claim attack

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP):

An Eni SpA oil pipeline ruptured and caught fire as a militant group claimed responsibility for an attack in the region, its first alleged assault in months as its purported leader awaits trial on terrorism charges in South Africa.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) also threatened to attack South African interests in an email sent to journalists late Saturday night, as its alleged leader Henry Okah remains imprisoned there.

South African businesses "will pay a heavy price for the interference of (President) Jacob Zuma in the legitimate fight for justice in the Niger Delta, by its people," the statement read. "The South African president has reduced himself to the position of a hired thug."

Meaning of attack

South African businesses, like mobile phone carrier MTN Group Ltd and others, have operations throughout Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with more than 160 million people. While other MEND threats have failed to materialise in the past, Saturday's apparent attack could mean the militant group is willing to begin its assaults again.

The fire happened Saturday night near Brass River in Nigeria's Bayelsa state, home to the nation's President Goodluck Jonathan. Witnesses told a local environmental group they heard the blast from their homes.

In its email, the militant group said it "attacked and destroyed" the pipeline run by a Nigerian subsidiary of Eni.

Confirmation of attack

A Rome-based spokesman for Eni, speaking on condition of anonymity per company policy, acknowledged that either a fire or attack had happened on the pipeline, cutting about 4,000 barrels of crude oil production a day.

Lt. Col. Timothy Antigha, a spokesman for the military in the restive region, acknowledged "claims of a fire" on the pipeline, but said soldiers could not independently verify it.

The attack occurred in the oil-rich Niger Delta, where foreign firms have pumped oil out of the country for more than 50 years. Despite the billions of dollars flowing into Nigeria's government, many in the delta remain desperately poor, living in polluted waters without access to proper medical care, an education or work.