LAGOS, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's major militant group in the oil rich Niger Delta region the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said on Wednesday it had attacked oil pipelines operated by Royal Dutch Shell and the Italian firm Agip in southeast Nigeria's Bayelsa State.

    "The Agip pipeline, which connects the Agip Brass terminal, was sabotaged at Nembe creek, while the Shell Nembe creek line was done at Asawo village," the group's spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mail statement reaching here.

    "The plague of sabotage descended heavily on major Shell and Agip crude trunk lines in Bayelsa state at about 0200 and 0230 hrs today, Wednesday, July 8, 2009," the statement said.

    Precious Okolobo, a spokesman for Shell in Nigeria, told Xinhua on Wednesday that they received reports of an attack, adding that the company is investigating the damage.

    No official from the Italian firm Agip is available for comment as at the time of filling this report.

    Armed attacks in the oil rich region, which accounts for almost all of Nigeria's oil output, have cut more than 20 percent of the country's crude exports since 2006.

    The attacks indicate that the militant group continues its campaign against foreign oil companies after the Nigerian government offered the amnesty for them last month.

    The group has launched several attacks on international oil facilities in southern Nigeria as part of its campaign to get what it calls a fairer distribution of the region's oil wealth to local people.

    Last month, it warned oil workers in the troubled oil rich Niger Delta region to leave within 72 hours to avoid an imminent attack.

    The unrest in the region has forced many international firms operating there to flee the area, resulting in greater governmental concern over the area and the mobilization of the Nigerian army and coast guard into the region.

    About 300 foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta since 2006. Though almost all have been released unharmed, the international investors have said they would not increase their investment in the area.