LAGOS— GUNMEN, yesterday, attacked an offshore oil rig operated by exploration firm Afren, kidnapping five crew members including foreigners and injuring two others.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, made no immediate claim of responsibility but threatened to carry out new attacks on oil infrastructure in the oil and gas industry.

Reuters said the attack in the shallow_water Okoro field off Akwa Ibom State, Afren’s biggest producing oilfield with an average output of 17,300 barrels per day, was one of the biggest of its kind since an amnesty brokered by President Jonathan last year.

Afren said in a statement: “Two crew members are stable after receiving wounds to the leg, and have been evacuated by helicopter to a shore_based clinic. It is believed that five crew members have been taken hostage.”

A security source said those kidnapped were believed to be two French nationals, two U.S. citizens and one Canadian national, though there was no confirmation of this from the nation’s security services or Afren.

The French Foreign Ministry said it had received information suggesting two French citizens were among those taken and was investigating.

Afren said the High Island VII jackup rig had recently arrived in the Okoro field and was preparing to begin drilling. It said drilling activities were temporarily suspended. Meanwhile, Afren shares fell as much as nine percent in London as a result of news of the attack.

The company said there had been a second security breach at a support vessel but that both the rig and the vessel were now under its control.

More attacks threatened

Meanwhile in an e-mail to media, MEND warned of more attacks. It said: “In the coming days, our fighters will launch a series of attacks on oil installations across the Niger Delta.”

It also said it was holding one Thai and three French nationals who were kidnapped several weeks ago and had since been transferred to its custody.

The three Frenchmen were kidnapped from a vessel owned by French marine services company, Bourbon, by gunmen in speedboats,  September 22, an attack which was also off Akwa Ibom and similar in style to the latest strike on Afren.