Foreign oil tankers threatened by Nigerian militants

Militants who kidnapped nine foreign oil workers and forced a 20% cut in Nigerian crude exports yesterday vowed to escalate the violence, threatening for the first time to fire rockets at international oil tankers. The military said tankers in Nigerian waters were safe.

The West African nation is reeling from a spate of attacks a day earlier in which militants blasted oil and gas pipelines and sabotaged a key oil loading terminal belonging to Royal Dutch Shell, forcing the company to halt the flow of more than 500,000 barrels a day.