Nigeria rebels claim attack on oil facility

LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) - Rebels attacked an oil facility in Lagos state late on Sunday, they claimed in a statement e-mailed to journalists.

"Led by a pillar of fire, heavily armed MEND fighters today... carried out an unprecedented attack on the Atlas Cove Jetty in Lagos state. The depot and loading tankers moored at the facility are currently on fire," Jomo Gbomo, a spokesman for the group, said in the statement.

Nigerian officials have not confirmed that an attack took place. Police declined to respond to CNN requests for comment.

Gbomo said MEND was pursuing a "two-pronged approach of combining dialogue and intensifying attacks throughout the course of negotiations."

MEND demands a fairer distribution of oil wealth in the Niger Delta, with oil revenues reinvested in the region.

The group has declared an "all-out war" on the government, and attacks have been aimed at oil and gas installations in the region.

It claimed to have attacked three oil facilities in the petroleum-rich region last week. Nigeria is Africa's largest producer of crude oil.

The militants are formally known as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.

–CNN's Christian Purefoy contributed to this report.