Nigeria's major militant group in the oil rich Niger Delta region the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said on Monday that its fighters had destroyed an oil platform belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in southeast Nigeria Delta State on Monday.

The action indicates that it continues its campaign against foreign oil companies after Nigerian government offered the amnesty for them last week.

In an e-mail statement reaching here, the group spokesman Jomo Gbomo said "Hurricane Piper Alpha has struck at the Shell Forcados off-shore platform in Delta state today, Monday, June 29, 2009 at about 0330 Hrs."

"Cluster 11 and 30 are currently on fire after a massive explosion," the statement added.

"A military gunboat patrol on noticing the fire stumbled upon heavily armed fighters and the confrontation resulted in the sinking of the gunboat with all the occupants numbering between 20-23 soldiers," it said.

"We have made it clear that patrols must not open fire at us as our target is the oil infrastructure and this unheeded warning resulted in the death of these soldiers," the statement said.

Precious Okolobo, a spokesman for Shell in Nigeria, told Xinhua on Monday that they received reports of an attack on two well clusters at their Estuary field in western swamp operation, adding that some production has been shut in as a precautionary measure, while investigation is on.

The Nigerian federal government on Thursday offered a 60-day amnesty to the militants in the Niger Delta region who have been responsible for pipeline bombings, attacks on oil and gas installations and the kidnapping of industry workers over the past three years.

But MEND in the statement said it will negotiate as a group on the amnesty when the right time comes.

The group has launched several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Nigeria as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth to local people.

Early this month, it warned oil workers in the troubled oil rich Niger Delta region to leave within 72 hours to avoid an imminent attack.

Source: Xinhua