Nigeria: Niger Delta - Mend Claims Responsibility for Explosion

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Leadership (Abuja)

23 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008

The Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) have claimed responsibility for the explosion that killed two sailors and injured unspecified number of people early Friday morning in Port Harcourt.

"This attack was retaliation for the Navy killing of innocent civilians when their gunboat ran into a passenger boat in Yenagoa, killing 16 persons and the Navy did not deem it fit to apologise to or compensate the victims," MEND said in an email sent to journalists a few hours after the explosion.

However, Nigerian military authorities dismissed MEND's claim, insisting that the explosion was an accident.

Maj. Sagir Musa said a group of naval officers were about to go on a patrol when one of them attempted to fix a problem with their boat's wiring. The resulting explosion at the NNS Pathfinder Shipyard in the oil hub of Port Harcourt killed at least two people, he said, and destroyed three boats and a barge.

"It is purely an accident triggered by an electrical mishap," he said.

"We do not know the extent of damage as those responsible were not around the scene after the act. We do know that the boats are docked close to fuel storage so the damage may spread," MEND said in the email signed by Jomo Gbomo.

Militant groups and criminal gangs frequently attack the Navy and the region's oil industry and have used bombs before. The Nigerian armed services are hampered in their fight against them partly because the armed forces often use outdated or badly maintained equipment.

The restive Delta region produces a fifth of America's oil imports and makes Nigeria the largest oil exporter in Africa. But poverty, corruption and lawlessness have fueled the region's long-running conflict.