Nigeria militants 'repel attack, kill troops'

LAGOS, Nigeria Militants in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta region said they killed six government soldiers after the military attacked one of its camps on Thursday. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, in an e-mail, said three military gunboats attacked one of its camps around the Ke River in the country's Rivers state. The group said the gunboats were repelled, with six soldiers dying and three militant fighters wounded in the skirmish. There was no immediate reaction from the government. Nigeria is Africa's largest crude oil producer and the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the United States. MEND has demanded that more of the country's oil wealth be pumped into the region instead of enriching foreign investors, and the militants have been attacking oil pipelines in retaliation against government forces, limiting the amount of crude oil that can leave the country. MEND -- the largest rebel group -- has targeted foreign oil companies since 2006. It has bombed pipelines and kidnapped hundreds of foreign oil workers, typically releasing them unharmed, sometimes after receiving a ransom payment. MEND hopes to secure a greater share of oil wealth for people in the delta, where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.