UPDATE 2-Nigerian militants attack Shell gas plant in delta

PORT HARCOURT, Feb 7 - Nigerian militants attacked a gas plant operated by Royal Dutch Shell in the Niger Delta on Saturday and warned of more strikes to come, but the army said it had repelled the raid and killed three gunmen.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), the region's main militant group, said its fighters attacked the Utorogu gas plant in Delta state at around 0330 (0230 GMT).

The group, whose attacks in the Niger Delta have shut down more than a fifth of Nigeria's crude oil output over the past three years, called off a five-month-old ceasefire a week ago but had warned it would strike in Rivers state further east.

"MEND decided on this location (Utorogu) to dispel the false sense of peace and security in Delta state which the governor has been boasting about," it said in an emailed statement.

"It is also to send a message to the oil companies that all the pipelines they have repaired in the western Delta will soon be in need of repairs again," it said.

"SWEEPING ASSAULT"

The Nigerian army said earlier it had repelled an attack by suspected militants on Utorogu, killing three of the gunmen. It said two workers at the site and one soldier were wounded.

"There was no impact on the facility. Our soldiers are still guarding it," Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the western Niger Delta, said.

Shell could not immediately be reached for comment.

MEND warned a week ago of a "sweeping assault" on Nigeria's oil and gas industry, the biggest in Africa, but said its strikes would begin in Rivers state.

MEND's initial attacks on industry installations were in the western states of Delta and Bayelsa, where much oil production remains shut down because of the sabotage.

More recently, the violence in the region has centred around Port Harcourt, the capital of Rivers state, although much of the unrest has been criminal rather than political in nature, including kidnapping for ransom and piracy.

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