Militant organizations are planning attacks against infrastructure around key maritime oil transport hubs like the Suez Canal and Straits of Hormuz, a top Russian official said Tuesday.
Militant organizations are planning attacks against infrastructure around key maritime oil transport hubs like the Suez Canal and Straits of Hormuz, a top Russian official said Tuesday.

Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Russian national security council, said militants are maintaining contacts with pirates in order to carry out the attacks.

"Terrorist organizations, using contacts with pirates, are planning acts of sabotage on maritime communications and shore infrastructure in areas of hydrocarbon extraction," he said.

"Their areas of priority are the Strait of Gibraltar, Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb as well as the Suez Canal," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying at a conference in the southern city of Sochi.

The Bab al-Mandeb off the Horn of Africa and Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf are crucial bottlenecks for the maritime transport of oil from the Middle East to the West, and their security is a major concern for energy markets.

Patrushev didn't give further details on the militants' plans or the source of the intelligence.

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