Gunmen attack shipbuilding co
2008-01-29 13:01
Ufford Wilson
Port Harcourt - Gunmen riding in two boats attacked a waterside shipbuilding company on Tuesday in Nigeria's lawless southern oil region, injuring one person, police said.
The gang escaped with spare parts as the military moved in to restore order, police said.
The attackers' identities and that of the injured civilian were not known, Rivers State police spokesperson Ireju Barasua said. The attack in the Borokiri area of the southern oil centre of Port Harcourt happened shortly after midnight, she said.
The military stepped up their activities over the past months in the vast brackish waters near the city, bombing militant strongholds and destroying the types of boats the gunmen had used to launch two years of attacks against Africa's biggest oil industry.
Tuesday's attack, in which the attackers hauled away boat parts as the military responded, ended about two weeks of relative calm in the area.
The government had said it had been engaging militant youths in peace talks, but the meetings had been fitful and a high-level conference on how to permanently calm the region had not materialised.
Attacks since early 2005 by militants seeking release of their imprisoned leaders and a greater share of central government held oil revenues for their region had trimmed nearly one quarter of Nigeria's regular 2.5 million daily barrel crude production, helping send oil prices to historical highs.
- AP