JUST IN: Uproar in Bayelsa as gunmen blow up Agip pipelines
– An armed group who claims to be working to safeguard the Agip pipeline in Azuzuama-Ikienghenbiri creek, and another group said to be vandals clash in Bayelsa state
– The pipeline is set ablaze while the two groups engaged each other in the gun battle
– Residents are scared as a result of the clash and are presently leaving to neighbouring villages for cover
A section of the Tebidaba-Brass pipelines along the Azuzuama-Ikienghenbiri creek in Southern Ijaw local government, Bayelsa state is currently on fire, Vanguard reports.
But while the Vanguard reports that gunmen attacked the facility, which is owned by oil giant, Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), Sahara Reporters is reporting that the incident was caused as a result of a clash between rival armed groups.
According to Ebidimo Joseph, who resides in Ikienghenbiri, the groups were struggling for control of the Ogboinbiri-Tebidaba crude trunk line which passed through the area.
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He added that residents are scared as a result of the clash and are presently leaving to neighbouring villages for cover.
File photo of gunmen
He said: “We understand it is a conflict between two armed groups for the access to the crude pipeline, one group claims to be working to safeguard the pipeline and said the other group are vandals; they have been shooting.
“The sound of the gunfire is scary, and there is no sign of the Joint Task Force soldiers who are supposed to be patrolling the area, we have not seen any soldier.
“The pipeline was set ablaze while the two groups engaged each other in the gun battle and there was no way to ascertain if there was any casualty yet.”
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He added that a thick ‘cloud of smoke’ had enveloped the community and polluted the atmosphere in the area.
As at the time of filing the report, efforts to get the response of Col. Isa Ado, spokesman of the Joint military force deployed to protect oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta were futile as he declined to take calls to his mobile phone.
Details later…
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