The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said Friday that is ending the truce it declared in September. It declared the ceasefire after carrying out a wave of deadly attacks against military and oil industry installations that slashed crude output from Africa's petroleum giant.
The group says in an email that its decision was prompted by an attack earlier in the day by government forces on a camp run by one of its members.
It said it would retaliate with attacks against Nigeria's oil industry in an operation it called "Hurricane Obama."
Lt.-Col. Sagir Musa, a spokesman for the military task force charged with calming the region, confirmed an armed engagement.
The militants declared a cessation of hostilities in late September after attacks on troops and the infrastructure that carries oil from wells to export terminals in the southern Niger Delta, where Nigeria's petroleum is found.
That upsurge of violence slashed crude output in Nigeria, where long-simmering unrest has kept the country's daily crude production below two million barrels a day, or about 20 per cent under Nigeria's estimated capacity.
The militant group, known by its acronym MEND, emerged about three years ago, showing greater sophistication and ability in its attacks than the other armed factions that had existed in southern Nigeria for years.
It serves an umbrella organization for various armed gangs in the Niger Delta, where criminality and militancy are closely intertwined.
The militants say their campaign of sabotage against the oil industry is meant to force the federal government to spend more money in the poor southern region where the crude oil is produced.
The government calls the militants gangsters who are using political agitation to mask their criminal activities, primarily the siphoning and illegal overseas sale of oil.
