TWO FEARED DEAD IN NAVAL BOAT BLAST

An explosion at the Nigeria Navy Pathfinder shipyard at Rumuolumeni near Port Harcourt, Rivers State, is feared to have caused the death of no fewer than two naval personnel and the destruction of three gunboats and a barge.
Meanwhile, a prominent militant group in the Niger Delta, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has claimed responsibility for the blast. The spokesman for the Joint Task Force (JTF), comprising the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police and State Security Service, Lt. Colonel, Sagir Musa, has however dismissed MEND's claim, noting that the accident was caused by an electrical spark.
Spokesman for the militant group, Jomo Gbomo in an online message claimed that the accident was an act of sabotage targeted on two gunboats belonging to the Navy. He said the group's men inside the Navy carried out the sabotage to retaliate the killing of innocent civilians by the gunboat that crashed into a passenger ferry in Bayelsa State recently.