Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Friday on two Lebanese workers in southern Nigeria’s Rivers State, killing one, police and industry sources said.
“The men were shot early this morning. We believe they were on their way to the airport when they were attacked. One died immediately while the other was seriously injured,” a senior police officer said, refusing to be identified.
The attack came a day after the oil region’s most vocal separatist group threatened to retaliate against Italian firm Agip and one state government in the Niger Delta over the release of a Lebanese oil worker, which it claimed escaped from its custody.
Details were sketchy, but an oil industry source in Port Harcourt, the hub of the oil industry, said the Lebanese nationals, believed to be construction workers, were attacked on Isiokpe road in Ikwerre Local Government Area.
Lebanese diplomatic sources in Abuja announced on Wednesday that Imad Saliba, who was abducted more than two months ago, had been freed and was “safe and well” after undergoing a medical check-up.
But the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (Mend), who kidnapped Saliba and three Italian colleagues on December 7, said he escaped. “It was an escape hatched by [oil firm] Agip and the Bayelsa State government.”
“Agip and the Bayelsa State government will pay a hefty price for this slight,” the armed group threatened in an e-mail.
Two of the Italians abducted with Saliba are still being held by Mend. The third was freed on January 18 because of health problems.
Mend has the highest profile among a number of groups operating in the Niger delta who are seeking to highlight alleged imbalances in the distribution of oil wealth in the region.
Since the beginning of this year, 55 foreigners have been kidnapped by separatist groups and armed gangs in southern Nigeria, almost as many as for the whole of 2006. Most of them have been released.
About 40 Nigerian security personnel have also been killed in the past year. The latest was on Wednesday night when unknown gunmen shot two soldiers dead and wounded a third in the region. — AFP