Heavily armed Nigerian militants killed two US oil workers in a botched robbery attempt in Nigeria's southern delta, authorities said today.
The attack on the boat, carrying contractors to US oil giant ChevronTexaco and their military escorts, took place yesterday evening as they returned from work reopening oil wells closed by a bloody ethnic uprising in the area last year.
"Several persons were killed in this attack including American citizens and some are missing," the US embassy said in a message to its citizens in Nigeria.
A spokesman for California-based ChevronTexaco said five people were confirmed dead including two American contractors and three Nigerian soldiers.
"Preliminary information indicates that the attack was by heavily armed militants who wanted to dispossess the security personnel of their weapons," the company spokesman said.
One ChevronTexaco employee and a soldier were also wounded. Violent clashes, kidnappings and extortion are common in the Niger delta, which is one of the OPEC member country's poorest regions despite producing all of its crude oil.
An uprising there by militants of the Ijaw ethnic group last year was rooted in widespread popular anger at the abject poverty of most delta inhabitants despite its huge natural resources. It was quashed by a massive military deployment.
Some of the militias there were armed by political parties to control ballot boxes in last year's general elections, while others are involved in a lucrative trade in stolen crude oil controlled by powerful Nigerians and international crime gangs.