Nigeria oil field unrest continues

Reported here:

Nigerian militants have claimed responsibility for exploding a car bomb at an army barracks in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt.
Two people died in the attack a day after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta renewed its threat to target oil installations.

On Wednesday, Mend rejected plans announced by President Olusegun Obasanjo to develop the Niger Delta.

The militants are demanding more local control of the region's oil wealth.

In recent months there has been an upsurge of attacks on foreign oil interests which have cut the country's oil production by 20%.

This has cost Nigeria millions of dollars of lost revenue and helped to drive up world oil prices.
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The BBC's Alex Last in Lagos says the use of a car bomb by militants is new.

Most previous militant attacks have been carried out among the creeks of the Niger Delta, not inside a major city like Port Harcourt.

It is also the first time Mend has claimed responsibility for an operation in the eastern Niger Delta. So far, their attacks have been confined to the west, our correspondent says.

Recently the militants announced it would stop taking hostages and use different tactics in its campaign to gain greater local control of the area's oil wealth.

It's all about the OIL!