New Pipeline Attack Shows Nigeria Unrest Spreads

 Arepo, Nigeria, January 23, 2013

A gasoline pipeline that runs through southwest Nigeria has been attacked, bursting into flames and starting a fire that continued to burn hours later.

The attack happened early Wednesday morning in Arepo, a town just north of Nigeria's megacity of Lagos. Officials with Nigeria's Security and Civil Defense Corps told The Associated Press that they blamed the attack on a group of thieves who have been increasingly targeting pipelines in the region.

Such attacks remain all-too common in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta in its southeast. However, there have been several recent attacks on gasoline pipelines in the southwest, suggesting thieves now feel emboldened and can strike with impunity. That doesn't bode well for Nigeria, which already has problems importing enough fuel for the nation of more than 160 million people.