Gunmen suspected to be pirates, in the early hours of Sunday, attacked two oil installations, killing three and abducting seven oil workers in Bayelsa State.
This is coming three days after a Danish naval patrol killed four pirates in a gun duel off the coast of Nigeria.
The pirates reportedly ambushed their unsuspecting victims in Okoroma and Ogbokiri-Akassa communities of Nembe and Brass local government areas of Bayelsa.
Sources close to the affected oilfields said the gunmen reportedly shot dead two staff of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company and an official of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The driver of the victims’ boat, an indigene of Okoroma community, is still missing, according to the local sources who witnessed the incident.
According to the sources, in the ambush that occurred at Ogbokiri-Akassa in Brass Local Government area, six oil workers said to have been doing maintenance job close to their platform were abducted. The Agip oil workers and their security guards, it was gathered, came under attack at about 6 a.m., while working close to a manifold in the deep swamp.
The NSCDC spokesperson in Bayelsa, Ogbere Solomon, confirmed the incident on Sunday evening. He confirmed that a civil defence officer died in the ambush, while two others, who were missing, have been found and are currently receiving treatment at a medical facility in Yenagoa.
“Yes, our officers were ambushed and attacked by some unknown pirates while on their lawful duty of providing protection to some Agip oil workers close to Obama manifold in Okoroma community of Nembe Local Government Area. One personnel was killed while the other two that were missing have been found and are responding to treatment,” he said.
Tarinyu Joseph, the youth president of the Okoroma Clan, said indigenes of the area have recovered the corpses of those killed. He said those injured were taken to the hospital while the boat driver is still missing.
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