Two car bombs exploded Dec. 18 at foreign oil company compounds in the Niger Delta city of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The attacks occurred shortly after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) militant group told officials they would detonate three car bombs in the region.

The bombings follow another recent MEND attack, and are aimed at demonstrating that the militant group is still a force in the region.

The Dec. 18 explosions occurred at a residential compound belonging to Royal Dutch/Shell and one belonging to Italian oil company Agip. According to MEND, the bombs were a mix of commercial and military explosives remotely detonated by a cell phone. The blasts caused no casualties, and only relatively minor property damage. In the Agip attack, the bomb detonated near the perimeter fence of the compound, causing substantial damage to the fence but leaving everything else relatively unscathed. So far, no third bomb has detonated.

Attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta are nothing new. Various groups often seek to attack foreign oil targets to draw attention to their causes and pursue their demands. Kidnapping for ransom has become an increasing problem, as have instances of locals overrunning oil production facilities for several days at a time. During the summer alone, militants kidnapped foreign workers on 14 occasions, though all the hostages were released after negotiations.

MEND recently claimed responsibility for a Dec. 7 attack on Nigeria's Brass Island oil terminal. The attackers abducted one Lebanese and three Italian oil workers in that incident. MEND leaders have threatened to hold these hostages until Dec. 25 to pressure Nigerian officials and foreign oil companies to meet their demands for increased economic aid and better environmental policies in the delta region.

Though the Dec. 18 attacks targeted foreign oil companies, they were not aimed at production facilities. While the blasts show an intent and capability by MEND to strike foreign companies, the lack of casualties or any interruption in oil production suggests these bombs were merely a warning attack. Had MEND intended to cause more substantial damage to oil infrastructure -- like it did during its attacks on Shell facilities in January -- it would have struck more critical targets, such as production facilities. Even so, the attack on residential compounds threatens to disrupt oil production indirectly by making it harder to retain or recruit foreign oil workers frightened by the security situation in the delta.

MEND probably will continue this sort of attack in order to pressure foreign oil companies and the Nigerian government to meet its environmental and economic demands.