Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Gunmen kill Lebanese engineer in Nigerian oil city | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
Select Page

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, (Reuters) – Unknown gunmen shot dead a Lebanese construction engineer on his way to work on the outskirts of Nigeria’s oil city Port Harcourt on Friday, police said.

It was the latest incident in rising violence against foreign workers in Africa’s top oil producer, where militant attacks have have cut exports by a fifth and forced thousands of foreign workers to leave.

“Some gunmen opened fire on a car on the outskirts of Port Harcourt and a Lebanese engineer was killed,” Rivers State Police Commissioner Felix Ogbaudu said by telephone.

Kidnappings and attacks on oil workers and facilities have become an almost weekly occurrence in the Niger Delta, a vast wetlands region which is home to Africa’s largest oil industry.

A total of eight foreigners are being held by different armed groups in the delta, down from nine after one Lebanese hostage regained his freedom on Wednesday.

The man’s employer, Italian oil giant ENI , said he was released, but the group holding him said he escaped and said it would take revenge on the company and the state government. That group is still holding two Italian employees of ENI.