SITUATION REPORT: PERSISTENT MILITANT ACTIVITY IN NIGERIA’S NIGER DELTA
According to reports released on 3 July, the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) militant group has claimed a number of attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria’s southern Delta state in recent days. The group bombed a Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) crude pipeline near Warri, on 1 July. The group also claimed two bombings on Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) crude oil pipelines near Batan, on 2 July. Two further bombings were claimed by the group on 3 July, when two oil wells operated by Chevron were targeted.
Meanwhile, a number of other militant groups have threatened to conduct attacks targeting oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta region recently, including the Niger Delta Volunteers (NDV) and the Asawana Deadly Force of Niger Delta (ADFND). The NDV is believed to have an operational presence in the oil-rich Akwa Ibom state, where it claimed the 16 June bombing of an NNPC pipeline in Ikot Abasi.