A Nigerian militant group on Friday claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of three Italians and a Lebanese national, seized in a raid on an oil export terminal in the Niger Delta region on Thursday.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) e-mailed a statement to Nigerian press organisations demanding the release of two jailed leaders from the southern oil-rich region, the withdrawal of foreign oil groups, and compensation and oil wealth for the local population.
MEND, which emerged earlier this year, also threatened to stage further attacks ahead of an OPEC summit to be held in Nigeria next week.
In a separate e-mail to French news agency France Presse, MEND said the hostages were "in good health" but warned it was prepared to hold them "for years" if necessary.
The four hostages were seized during a dawn attack on a pumping station run by Italian petroleum group Agip in Brass, a small coastal town in the swampy southern state of Bayelsa.
Agip's parent group ENI later named the kidnapped Italians as Francesco Arena, Cosma Russa and Roberto Dieghi and the Lebanese as Imad Abed.
Masked gunmen attacked the Agip terminal in seven speedboats.
Armed troops deployed to protect the station sought to repel the militants and an eight-year-old local child was killed in the crossfire.
MEND, which staged similar hostage-taking raids in January and February, said in its statement that "the following days will witness more attacks against oil industry targets.
"We will not entertain talk concerning the release of the captured hostages. They will be exchanged for at least a part of our demands".
The group called for the release of former Bayelsa governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, in jail for corruption, and Delta separatist leader Mujahid Dokubo Asari, who is being held on treason charges.
It demanded compensation from Shell and other oil industry giants and the "complete renouncement by the Nigerian government of its oil interests for the benefit of the Delta community".
MEND also said it wanted "reparations to be paid to the entire Delta for 50 years of enslavement and robbery by the Nigerian government and oil industry".
The group says the money will compensate the local population for oil spills and other damage inflicted on the environment since oil extraction began in the delta 50 years ago.
It threatened to bomb oil companies' offices and vehicles unless its demands were met.
"Our price for the halting of hostilities against the oil industry remains the emancipation of the Niger Delta and its people... The time for warnings is over," MEND said.
Since the start of 2006, there have been repeated incidents of violence in the Niger Delta, where all of Nigeria's oil reserves are located.
The attacks on oil pipelines and hostage-taking raids have cut crude output by about 25% in Nigeria - Africa's biggest oil producer an the eighth largest in the world.
Hostages are usually released unharmed in return for ransoms but during one such incident last month, a British hostage and a Nigerian were killed and an Italian injured as Nigerian soldiers tried to free them and other captives.
In all, some 70 oil industry workers have been taken hostage this year and at least 37 Nigerian soldiers have been killed in the Delta region.
ENI "SURPRISED".
ENI, meanwhile, said from Rome that MEND's threats of further attacks had taken it "completely by surprise".
ENI spokesman Gianni Di Giovanni said in an interview on satellite news channel Sky that the Italian group had not received any threats of hostilities prior to Thursday's raid.
He stressed that ENI played a social role in the Delta community, where he said it had set up health centres and similar structures.
"We believe our presence in the country is of help to the local people," Di Giovanni said.
ENI also said that its operations in Brass had been unaffected by the attack.
Brass exports some 200,000 barrels of oil daily while the surrounding state of Bayelsa has one of the largest crude oil deposits in Nigeria.
The presence of foreign oil companies has fuelled resentment among many residents in the impoverished Niger Delta, who say the profits have enriched industry players and the government but failed to benefit them.
But many militants who claim to be fighting for the local population are considered little more than oil thieves or the puppets of corrupt politicians.
Oil theft is rife in the region. The stolen oil is sold on the black market and the profits often used to buy weapons.
