Inside Mend training camp

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Nigeria’s main militant group, has claimed responsibilty for the attack which killed 12 people in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Friday.

Mend carried out attacks on oilfields and pipelines in the Niger Delta, home to Africa’s biggest oil and gas industry, for years until accepting an amnesty in 2009.

It has said it is fighting for a fairer share of the natural wealth for the vast wetlands region, whose villages remain mired in poverty despite five decades of crude oil extraction.

In this Aljazeera exclusive, Yvonne Ndege reports from a Mend training camp in their heartland, the oil-rich Niger Delta.