The Nigerian militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) denied army claims Thursday that that the driver of a rigged vehicle in Wednesday’s car bomb at a military barracks in the southern city of Port Harcourt was killed.
‘The African man does not undertake suicide missions – all our operatives left about 15 minutes before the detonation of the bomb although a surveillance team went in shortly after the explosion to assess the impact of the explosion,’ MEND spokesman Jomo Gbomo told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa by e-mail.
Earlier army reports said the driver of the vehicle was killed in Wednesday’s car bomb at the Bori military camp while a second person was wounded.
‘It has not been confirmed whether the injured man was an accomplice or a soldier from the barracks,’ said officer Joseph Ezuma from from Port Harcourt.
The explosives were reportedly detonated from a safe distance by cell phone, according to MEND.
MEND claimed responsibility for the blast that went off a day after President Olusegun Obasanjo offered a development and jobs package to the neglected Delta region.
‘It serves as a further warning to the Nigerian military, oil companies and those who are attempting to sell the birthright of the Niger Delta peoples for a bowl of porridge,’ Gbomo said.
Violence, kidnapping and vandalism of oil facilities has been on the upswing in the Niger delta since the beginning of the year in pressure exerted by militants seeking control by the local Ijaw people over the region’s oil resources.
‘As promised, we will show no mercy to all we find in oil installations when our attacks resume in earnest,’ Gbomo warned.
Nigeria’s delta region is home to more than 90 per cent of the west African country’s oil wealth but its population has long complained of the abject poverty and neglect from the federal governmnent