LAGOS — Nigerian militants calling themselves the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC) said Sunday they had attacked a major Shell oil pipeline in the volatile Niger Delta, in a statement obtained by AFP.

The group said the overnight attack “successfully disabled the trunk line belonging to Shell in the swamp of Obunoma” in the oil-rich Rivers State.

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Shell was unable immediately to confirm the attack.

The JRC said it was “reinvigorated as a result of series of consultations with patriotic groups in our territory.”

The main militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced last week it was calling off a three-month-old truce with the government.

A key demand of the militants is that local communities benefit from the region’s oil wealth.

Oil is Nigeria’s economic mainstay, raking in some 95 percent of export earnings and accounting for about 85 percent of budget requirements for the OPEC member country.