Nigerian militants preparing oil attacks: U.S.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Militant group MEND is preparing attacks on Nigerian oil facilities that could be preceded by hostage-taking, the U.S. embassy said in a security notice on Friday.

It was unclear why the embassy issued the notice to its citizens almost four weeks after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) itself made the same threat. A spokesman for the embassy declined to comment.

The consular notice said the embassy had received information that MEND was preparing attacks against unspecified oil installations and pipelines in three southern states of Nigeria.

"These attacks may be preceded by the taking of hostages to be used as human shields," it said.

It provided no more information.

The MEND itself said in an e-mail to the media on September 23 that it would resume attacks on oil installations and abduct foreign workers in response to the arrest of one of its leaders in Angola. It has yet to carry out the threat.