Police: Nigeria gunmen shoot 2 oil workers; 1 dies

LAGOS, Nigeria – Gunmen opened fire Friday on a vehicle carrying foreign workers in Nigeria’s unruly oil-producing south, killing one Lebanese man, while assailants on speedboats kidnapped two Italians in separate violence.

Five gunmen shot at the car carrying two Lebanese and a Nigerian as it neared the airport in the main oil center of Port Harcourt. One of the Lebanese men died instantly, while the other and the Nigerian driver were wounded, Rivers State police spokeswoman Irejua Barasua said.


Crime, armed militancy and attacks on foreign workers are on the rise across the increasingly lawless Niger Delta region, where all of Nigeria’s crude is pumped.

While the attackers’ motives were not known, most foreigners are targeted for robbery or kidnapping in the area of creeks and mangrove swamps that remains deeply impoverished despite its natural resources.

AP