The militant group in fight with Nigerian government forces said on Saturday that 27 hostages, including five foreign oil workers, have been trapped in a fighting zone in Eleme-Tombia, a riverside community in the Degemacouncil area of Rivers State.
"The 27 oil workers rescued yesterday by the MEND from the pirates that kidnapped them from the MT Blue Ocean are trapped in the fighting between our fighters and the Nigerian military forces," the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in the latest statement publicized via internet.
It is learnt that the workers are made up of five people from Britain, South Africa and Ukraine, while the remaining 22 are Nigerians. It said that some of the oil workers were injured during the crossfire.
The Nigerian authorities could not be reached for comments by now.
Nigerian military force and major militant group fighters on Saturday clashed in the country's oil-rich Niger Delta region, leaving at least seven militants confirmed dead and several others injured while no reports on military casualties by now.
Nigerian military force spokesman Sagir Musa said the military in Niger Delta region countered an offensive by the prominent militant group.
But MEND spokesman, with the alias "Jomo Gbomo", in a statement earlier on Saturday said that Nigerian military forces had deliberately launched a full-scale attack on militant camps in Tombia Area of Nigeria' southeastern Rivers State.
The group also ordered oil companies to move out their workers from the region within the next 24 hours, "because a hurricane is about to sweep through oil installations in the entire Niger Delta region", vowing to revenge the "unprovoked attack" and launching an oil war in the region.
Militancy in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region has become a big headache for the Nigerian government, which has created a brand new Ministry of Niger Delta on Wednesday allegedly to facilitate peace and development in the region.
Since the beginning of 2006, militant groups emerged in Niger Delta region, fighting for more local control over natural resources, especially oil, through the way of kidnapping oil workers and attacks on oil facilities.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped and a string of attacks on oil pipelines, wells and terminals have been registered by now, which have led to about 25 percent oil production drop compared with the country's peak oil output of 2.6 million barrels per day.
Source:Xinhua
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