The crisis in the Niger Delta degenerated on Tuesday when militants destroyed three major oil pipelines with dynamite.

The damaged pipelines, located in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, belong to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company.

The multi-billion dollar Brass Oil Terminal and Tank Farm are used by Agip to export about 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility, said the attack led to an outage at the Agip terminal at Twon-Brass, headquarters of Brass Local Government Area.

MEND, which also threatened indefinite attacks, said it had released the photographs of six expatriates, whom it kidnapped on May 1, 2007.

The spokesman for the group, Mr. Jomo Gbomo, in an online statement said, “At 0100 hours Nigerian time, the fighters of MEND attacked and destroyed three major pipelines in Bayelsa State.

“Two of these pipelines were within the territory of Akassa and the third in Twon-Brass. They reported an immediate outage at Agip‘s Brass terminal, on the destruction of the pipeline in Brass.

“All the fighters involved in this attack have since returned to base, without further incident. We will continue indefinitely with attacks on all pipelines, platforms and support vessels.”

In a statement, ENI, Agip’s parent company, confirmed that two of its pipelines had been ”sabotaged” while production from two oil fields had been suspended as a precautionary measure.

A spokesman for the Bayelsa State Government, Welson Ekiyor, also confirmed that attacks were carried out overnight on three pipelines in the state.

“This is pure criminality,” Agence France Presse quoted him as saying.

Major Onyema Nwachukwu, a spokesman for the Joint Task Force, said helicopters had been deployed in the sabotaged sites to assess the damage.

“This is a despicable and criminal act that should be condemned the world over,” Nwachukwu said.

The Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Police Command, Mr. Ibokette Iniobong, confirmed the incident.

He, however, told our correspondent on the telephone that the details of the attack were still sketchy.

The Coordinator of the state-owned security outfit, the Bayelsa Volunteers, Chief Joshua Benamesia, said the militants invaded the facilities with 12 speedboats.

Benamesia, who added that no casualty was recorded, said that the men of the force in the Niger Delta had been deployed in the area.

Senior employees of Agip, who were contacted in their Port Harcourt office, declined comment on the attacks.

Meanwhile, MEND has said that the six expatriates whose photographs it released would be freed on May 30 as a “shameful send-off” for President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The expatriates were working for the United States major, Chevron, when they were abducted.

The expatriates are one American, Mr. John Stapleton; and four Italians – Mr. Raffele Pascariello; Mr. Alfonso Frawza; Mr. Ignazio Gugliota; and Mr. Mario Celetano. A Croatian, Mr. Juricha Ruic, is the sixth hostage.

MEND maintained that the kidnap of the Chevron workers was also to show disapproval to the emergence of

Alhaji Umar Yar‘Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as president-elect and vice president-elect respectively.

It said that there would be no peace in the Niger Delta without justice.

Another 14 foreign hostages are still being held by different armed groups in the region.

Well over 150 foreign workers have been kidnapped since the start of 2006, most, but not all of them, connected to the oil industry.

The vast majority have been released unharmed. One or two, however, had been injured or killed by the military during rescue attempts.

There was a lull in kidnappings during the Nigerian elections but the militants made up for lost time since May 1, seizing at least 28 foreigners.

Attacks by militants forced Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s unit in Nigeria to halt output of about 500,000 barrels a day, almost a quarter of the country’s production.

The militants want the government to cede control of the oil industry to Niger Delta states where the crude is pumped.

They also demand the release of Mujaheeden Asari-Dokubo, a militia leader being tried on charges of treason, and Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former governor of Bayelsa State.

Punch