By Francis Sadhere

The Niger Delta Avengers has once agains attacked crude oil pipelines in Bayelsa operated by Agip Oil company, in the early hours of Friday.

Militants

According to a source, Yenagoa militants were suspected to be responsible for the blown up of the NAOC pipeline.

Also affected are the Goulubokiri Manifold and Lasukugbene pipeline.

Commandant of the Nigerian security and Civil Defence Corps in the state, Desmond Agu, confirmed the incident, saying that men of the command on surveillance exchanged gun fire with the vandals.

He said: “Reports from the swamp area indicates that last night (early hours of this morning) a gang of heavily armed youths with two double 200hp speedboats used explosives to blast three different points on the Tebidaba-Brass NAOC pipeline.”

The pokesperson of the Niger Delta Avengers, Mudoch Aginigbo in a statement issued through their website, said: “At about the of 3am to 5am the Niger Delta Avengers blowup Nembe 1, 2, and 3 trunk-line in Bayelsa/River states. We still using this medium to warn the general public of impostors Facebook accounts. Niger Delta Avenger is not in social network anymore.”

At the same time, the Eleme Youth Council has debunked claims by the Niger Delta Avengers that it blew up a pipeline belonging to one of the multinational oil companies operating in the area.

The Avengers had in a statement posted on its Facebook page, claimed responsibility for blowing up an NNPC pipeline at Eleme.