Nigerian armed group claims attack on oil facility

A Nigerian armed rebel group says it's blown up an oil facility in the restive oil-producing Niger Delta region, and is threatening to step up attacks in coming days. "At about 12:08 am, March 19, 2010, units of the Joint Revolutionary Council of Niger Delta attacked and exploded the Abbiama Manifold in Buguma," the group said in an email statement to the media. "We are going to extend the intensity of attacks in the coming days, believing that the oil companies and diplomatic missions in Nigeria have evacuated their foreign national(s)," said the JRC, a previously unknown militant group. Buguma is in Rivers State, whose capital Port Harcourt is Nigeria's oil hub and the base for many expatriates working in the Niger Delta. The military, which is deployed to police the volatile region, took note of the attack and said the Buguma installation was operated by the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell.