Bombs target Nigerian oil industry

Two explosions hit Nigeria's oil industry today after a militant group threatened to detonate three car bombs in the Niger Delta…

Two explosions hit Nigeria's oil industry today after a militant group threatened to detonate three car bombs in the Niger Delta.

The first explosion, from an apparent car bomb, hit Royal Dutch Shell's residential compound in the southern oil capital of Port Harcourt.

A second blast hit the perimeter fence of the compound of Italian oil company Agip, a unit of ENI, also in Port Harcourt.

There were no casualties reported in either explosion and no immediate impact on oil output from the world's eighth largest exporter.

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The explosion followed a warning by a militant group that it was about to detonate three car bombs in strategic locations across the Niger Delta, home to Nigeria's oil industry.

"Operatives of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta successfully planted three car bombs in strategic locations around the Niger Delta. These bombs will be detonated any minute from now," an e-mail said.

The group, known as Mend, is currently holding four foreign oil workers hostage.