By Austin Ekeinde
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (Reuters) – Militants attacked a Shell-operated oil facility in the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria on Wednesday, killing at least five soldiers and kidnapping five South Korean contractors.
The attack comes just three days after eight foreign oil workers were released by a different group of kidnappers, and is the latest sign of rising militancy across the oil heartland of Africa’s top producer.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which launched a series of attacks earlier this year that forced the closure of a quarter of Nigerian oil output, threatened strikes on crucial oil facilities in the next few weeks.
MEND said Wednesday’s raid was in response to a court decision on Tuesday to deny bail to militant leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, who is on trial for treason. The group had previously cited Asari’s release as one of its demands.
“We are of the opinion that the government of Nigeria may be interested more in a prisoner exchange rather than releasing the person whose release we have demanded,” the group said in an emailed statement.
The kidnap of the South Koreans comes after Nigeria awarded companies from South Korea oil exploration rights in return for promises of investment in Nigerian infrastructure.
The abductions coincide with a visit to South Korea by Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Edmund Daukoru, who is also OPEC president.
MEND said it had captured and burnt a house boat used by army and police assigned to the protection of the Shell facility, and an unknown number of security forces had been killed in a fierce fire fight.
The militants then kidnapped the five South Koreans, whom they said had been taken to a MEND base where they were safe and would not be harmed unless the base was attacked.
The group said that as the militants left the oil facility, they came under attack from four Nigerian army boats. The militants said they sunk one of the boats, killing at least five of its six occupants, while the other boats suffered an unknown number of casualties.
MEND said one of its fighters was killed.
Earlier, a coalition of three militant groups calling itself the Joint Revolutionary Council claimed responsibility for the night-time attack. The coalition includes MEND.
In Seoul, a Foreign Ministry official confirmed that five South Koreans were kidnapped.
Three of the South Korean workers are from Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co. and the other two were from Korea Gas Corp., a Foreign Ministry official said.
A Korea Gas spokesman said one South Korean employee of the company and another at an affiliated company were taken captive in Nigeria. The workers were testing the operations at a gas plant, the spokesman said.
Industry sources said the workers were under contract to Royal Dutch Shell in Cawthorne Channel. A Shell spokesman was not immediately available to comment.
(Additional reporting by Tom Ashby in Lagos, Estelle Shirbon in Abuja, Jon Herskovitz and Park Sung-woo in Seoul)
(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=841372006
Last updated: 07-Jun-06 10:56 BST
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
