Avengers 'blow up' oil pipelines in Nigeriapublished at 09:02 Greenwich Mean Time 16 November 2016
Image source, AFPThe insurgency has badly affected oil production
The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group says it has bombed three oil pipelines in southern Nigeria, in the latest sign that government efforts to mediate an end to the conflict are floundering.
The NDA said the attack was aimed showing its "strong resolve" to force the government to meet its demands.
"The Nigerian government needs our cooperation more than we need the government as it concerns the extraction of the crude oil and hydrocarbon resources in our God-given land," it added.
The group said it blew up three trunk lines carrying 300,000 barrels of oil a day to the Bonny export terminal of Dutch-British producer Shell in southern Bayelsa state.
The government and the oil company have not yet commented on the NDA's claim.
The government has been involved in talks with some militant groups and community leaders in the hope of ending attacks which have severely disrupted oil production, the West African state's main earner of foreign currency.
The militants are demanding that a greater share of the region's oil wealth be spent on ending poverty in communities.