June 29, 2009

LAGOS (AFP) – Nigerian rebels on Monday announced a new raid against a Shell oil facility and said they had killed at least 20 soldiers in a gun battle, a claim denied by the security forces.

While a Shell spokesman confirmed the raid and said it had caused a loss of production, Nigeria's combined police and army joint task force (JTF) denied there had been any clash with the rebels.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militants said the Shell Forcados off-shore platform in Delta state was burning "after a massive explosion" following their 2:30 am (0330 GMT) raid.

The MEND statement also said they had sunk a gunboat with between 20 and 23 soldiers on board.

"We have made it clear that patrols must not open fire at us as our target is the oil infrastructure," said the statement.

"This unheeded warning resulted in the death of these soldiers."

But JTF spokesman colonel Rabe Abubacar categorically denied its forces had clashed with MEND fighters.

"There was an attack on an isolated oil pipeline near Forcados. Our men were not there. So there was no confrontation.

"There was no way our soldiers would have been killed if there was no encounter," Abubacar told AFP.

Monday's raid was just the latest in a series that have targeted Shell facilities this month and which have continued despite last Thursday's offer from President Umaru Yar'Adua of an amnesty for the militants.

Forcados is one of the two main export facilities operated by Shell in Nigeria, along with the Bonny terminal further south in Rivers State.

The Niger Delta has since 2006 been rocked by violence by armed groups who say they are fighting for a greater share of the region's oil wealth for the local population.

The violence aimed at Shell and other oil majors operating in the Niger Delta like Chevron and Agip has forced a cut in crude production by nearly one-third since 2006, when the country produced 2.6 million barrels a day.

Current production is about 1.8 million barrels a day.