LAGOS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. consulate in Lagos warned on Friday that a militant group in Nigeria's oil producing Niger Delta may have imminent plans to launch a campaign of bombings, attacks on oil facilities and hostage takings. Such threats by Niger Delta groups are common and are not always carried out. The U.S. consulate said on Oct. 4 militants may target Bonny Island, a major oil and gas export hub, and no attack has materialised. "The U.S. government has learned that as of late October 2006, a militant Niger Delta group may have finalized its plans for a unified attack against oil facilities in the Niger Delta region," the consulate said in a circular. "The attacks allegedly will be carried out sometime during the first week of November and will include 10 to 20 simultaneous bombings of land-based targets and a series of separate attacks on oil installations in which expatriate workers will be taken hostage," it said. The circular said no details were available as to the specific targets of the planned attacks. The consulate was elaborating on an earlier warning published on Thursday, in which it alerted U.S. citizens to the risk of further attacks and hostage takings in the delta. Armed attackers kidnapped an American and a Briton on Thursday from an oil industry ship off the coast of Bayelsa state in the delta. The abduction was the latest in a wave of attacks on foreigners in the world's eighth largest oil exporter which has forced hundreds of workers to pull out and cut oil output by 500,000 barrels a day since February.
