Nigerian militants to resume oil attacks shortly

LAGOS, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Oil unions threatened to withdraw from Nigeria's delta on Friday if security worsens as militants hardened their rhetoric, vowing to resume their attacks and execute three hostages if another one dies.

The militants, whose violent campaign has driven oil prices to a four month high, are demanding the release of two Ijaw ethnic leaders, compensation for oil pollution and more local control over the delta's enormous oil wealth.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said they would not stop their raids, which have crippled a tenth of Nigeria's oil production, even if Shell pays the $1.5 billion they say it owes villages in the delta for years of pollution.

"When this is done we will still not halt our attacks but concentrate less on Shell and spread our attacks evenly between the companies operating in Nigeria," read an email from the group to Reuters.

The kidnappers told Reuters via telephone late on Thursday their U.S. hostage Patrick Landry was gravely ill and threatened to kill three other foreign oil workers if he died.

They allowed the hostages -- who also include a Briton, a Honduran and a Bulgarian -- to make contact with colleagues and friends late on Thursday night in the presence of Nigerian security staff as a humanitarian gesture.

This was the first contact with the Nigerian government since the hostages were abducted from an offshore oilfield operated by Shell on Jan. 11, the militants said.

"Be assured that we will continue our attacks very shortly. We are more than capable of sustaining the conflict," the email said.

From hideouts in the maze of tidal creeks and mangrove swamps, the Ijaw militants have bombed two export pipelines and attacked at least two large oil platforms. Dozens have been killed, including about 12 Nigerian soldiers. "If it becomes clear our safety can no longer be guaranteed, we will ask our members to stay at home," the leader of the NUPENG union leader, Peter Akpatason, said.

GRAVELY ILL

The hostages complained via telephone on Thursday of diarrhoea and fatigue from constant movement in the humid, mosquito-plagued delta in Nigeria's far south.

"We are in bad shape, we really are," said Landry, who suffers high blood pressure. "Meet these people's demand. We are not military: we came here to work."

So far, Shell is the only oil major to say it has suffered attacks. It has cut its production by 210,000 barrels a day and pulled out 500 staff. Hundreds of contractors have also fled.

France's Total and Italy's Agip, a unit of ENI , have both denied militant claims they were attacked.

Army spokesman Mohammed Yusuf said troops in the area were on a state of high alert but were not seeking to track down the hostages. "The government is not going to use force. We are trying to negotiate with them," Yusuf said.

The kidnappers have said two jailed Ijaw leaders, militant Mujahid Dokubo-Asari and former Bayelsa state governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, were the only qualified mediators for talks with the government.

Nigeria's only Ijaw governor, Alamieyeseigha was impeached last month for money-laundering after escaping arrest in Britain and now faces criminal charges. Asari, who led a bloody militant rebellion in the delta in 2004, is on trial for treason.

Some analysts believe the violence could be intended to put pressure on the ruling party to choose a candidate from the delta for presidential elections next year.

An Ijaw uprising before 2003 elections curbed 40 percent of Nigerian output. (Additional reporting by Daniel Flynn in Abuja and Tume Ahemba in Lagos)