Henry Omunu
28 September 2007
Abuja — One foreign oil worker was feared dead and four others abducted yesterday when suspected militants attacked the Rumuolumeni, off Iwofe Road premises of Saipem Nigeria Limited, an oil servicing affiliate of Nigeria Agip Oil Company, (NAOC).
The attack is coming four days after the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) threatened to resume attacks on the facilities and personnel of multi-national oil companies in the Niger Delta region. In yesterday's attack, suspected to have been carried out by MEND, four foreign nationals; a Portuguese, an Australian, a Colombian and a Filipino were allegedly abducted, amidst heavy shooting, from the company's premises, close to the naval base, NNS Pathfinder.
It was not clear whether the dead victim was one of the four abducted foreign nationals, whose identities remain unknown.
Sources told Daily Trust that armed assailants, dressed in military camouflage stor-med the company at 2:00pm and wrecked their havoc before escaping. The Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua, confirmed the attack and abduction of the foreign oil workers. She said information available to the police command was that a Colombian was killed in the attack, while four other expatriate staff of the company were kidnap-ped by the assailants.
She added that the assailants entered the company through the waterway bordering the company. Efforts to reach the spokesman of the military Joint Task Force (JTF) and the Army Public Relations Officer of the 2 Amphibious Brigade in Port Harcourt, Major Sagir Musa, were unsuccessful.
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