Nigerian militants detonated at least two car bombs outside a government building in the southern oil city of Warri today, where talks were being held about implementing an amnesty programme.
The attacks, claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militant group, are a major setback for acting president Goodluck Jonathan as his government also tries to calm ethnic tensions in the centre of the country.
Mr Jonathan has made reviving an amnesty programme and restoring peace in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, a top priority since he took over as acting leader in the absence of the nation's sick president.
The first vehicle exploded on an expressway several hundred metres from Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan's compound, the second at the gates of the building, just minutes after an emailed bomb threat from MEND.
Witnesses said around six passers-by were wounded. There were no reports of any deaths.
"Two bombs exploded on the Government House expressway, one about 400 metres from Government House where the meeting was taking place, and another about 100 metres from the building," Tunde Forsythe, a government official who was just outside at the time of the explosions, said.
Several hundred police officers and soldiers in armoured vehicles cordoned off Government House as cars burned on the expressway outside. Security was also tightened around the nearby offices of US energy giant Chevron.
MEND said the explosions were meant to "announce our continued presence" and warned of renewed attacks against the oil industry in the coming days, threatening firms such as French energy giant Total which have so far largely avoided significant strikes on their infrastructure.
Officials from states around the Niger Delta were meeting in Warri to discuss implementing the terms of an amnesty programme launched last year by president Umaru Yar'Adua, under which thousands of gunmen agreed to lay down their weapons.
Reuters