Gunmen suspected to be militantson Thursdaynight bombed oil installation belonging to the Nigeria Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) at Owhrode community in Udu Local Government Area of Delta.

The gas pipeline supplies the Delta Steel Company (DSC) with gas.

President General of Owhrode community, Mr Michael Odjo, confirmed the explosion on Friday.

Odjo said that they heard the explosion at about11pmon Thursday.

His words: “Immediately I mobilised my co-executives members, youths and members of the local vigilante to the points of oil facilities in the area but couldn’t find anything.

“So, we returned and blocked all access roads in and out of the community in a bid to apprehend the suspected militants but couldn’t find any.

“It was on Friday morning that we discovered that it was the NPDC gas pipeline that supplies DSC gas that was blown.”

According to Odjo, the pipeline was the only oil facility in their area and that they reported the matter to the Ovwian/Aladja Police Station.

He appealed to the management of the NPDC to engage the host community to secure the pipeline.

A police source at the Ovwian/Aladja Police station who did not want his name mentioned confirmed the incident.

According to him, “When we got there we found out that the gas pipeline was blown with dynamite connected to a battery which the perpetrators left at the crime scene.”

Meanwhile the Chairman of Udu Local Government, Mr Solomon Kpomah, has condemned the act.

Kpomah said that he was happy that the affected pipeline was not currently active.

“What save the situation is that the affected pipeline is not currently in use because DSC is not functioning at the moment,” he said.

•Photo shows burst pipeline.