Nigerian militants: We killed drunken soldiers

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) -- A rebel group that has been attacking oil pipelines in southern Nigeria claimed responsibility on Monday for another strike and said it killed 11 government soldiers in fighting that followed the sabotage.

The Nigerian military confirmed an attack on an oil pipeline and an explosion, but called the claim that 11 soldiers were killed a "lie" and "pure propaganda."

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, issued a statement saying it "successfully sabotaged another major trunk pipeline" belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company in the country's Rivers State.

"Minutes after the sabotage, our fighters encountered a military gunboat which opened fire blindly on the advance guard. We flanked them in a counter-attack and killed in close combat all the drunken soldiers numbering eleven, collecting their weapons, ammunitions and bullet-proof vests before using dynamite to sink the gunboat with its dead occupants," MEND said.

MEND also said they found two "traumatized, adolescent girls" who were gang-raped by Nigerian soldiers. "They were dropped off in the neighboring village by our men who have since returned safely to camp," the statement said.

The military had no immediate response to that claim.

Analysts say that one reason for record high gas prices in the United States is a spate of attacks on oil pipelines in Nigeria, the fourth largest supplier of oil to the United States.

Exxon and Shell are two of several companies that had been extracting two million barrels of oil a day in Nigeria. Yet rebel attacks on oil pipelines in the Niger Delta have cut overall production by roughly 10 percent -- meaning 200,000 fewer barrels of oil on some days.

The rebel group hopes to secure a greater share of oil wealth for people in the Niger Delta, where more than 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

MEND has bombed pipelines and kidnapped hundreds of foreign oil workers, typically releasing them unharmed, sometimes after receiving a ransom payment.

The Nigerian government has proposed a peace summit to find a solution to the region's problems, but an immediate resolution does not appear in sight.