The militant group in a statement signed by Jomo Gbomo stated on Friday that “the attack on a Nigerian marine police checkpoint on Thursday March 1, 2012, in Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria was carried out by our fighters.”
Armed gunmen on Thursday attacked security operatives along the creeks and waterways of Brass and Nembe local council areas of Bayelsa state, killing four marine policemen while three men of the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) including the Commanding Officer of the Brass Unit, Lieutenant Colonel A. Malik were killed in another attack.
MEND, however did not claim responsibility for the attack on the JTF formation.
The group in its statement also warned oil companies operating vessels on the nation’s shore not to adopt measures aimed at preventing its fighters from boarding their vessels.
“We will launch rockets at the bridge and other parts of the superstructure of such uncooperative vessels, and ensure such vessels are set alight, when we eventually board” the group stated.
There has been a range of pirates attacks on different vessels along the nation’s shores in recent weeks.
The statement further stated that the group is in talks with some kidnappers in Rivers state for the transfer of an engineer kidnapped from a Dutch reefer on Tuesday, off the coast of Port-Harcourt.
“We are in contact with the abductors of Captain Pikus Viktor, chief engineer Melnikov Slava and crew member Frederick Villamor taken off a Dutch registered reefer, ‘MV Breeze
Clipper’, anchored approximately 3 nautical miles off the coast of Port Harcourt on Tuesday, February 28, 2012″ the statement read.
The militant group claimed that the kidnappers have offered to hand the sailors over to one of MEND’s camps in Rivers State.
“We are considering this offer as these men were not captured from a vessel related to the Nigerian oil industry” the group stated, adding that “the master and chief engineer are Russian while the remaining crew member is from the Philippines” it stated.
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