Abuja - Unidentified gunmen shot and killed two riot
policemen during an apparent failed kidnapping attempt in the Niger
Delta city of Port Harcourt on Friday, police said.
Details of the incident were sketchy, but the victims were known
to have been on escort duty, protecting expatriate workers travelling
to their office, Police Commissioner for Rivers State Felix Ogbaudu
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.
Foreign workers, at constant risk of being kidnapped in the oil-
rich but impoverished Niger Delta, rely heavily on police escorts
when moving around.
Ogbaudu said the gunmen, dressed in army camouflage, opened fire
on the convoy, killing the police officers instantly.
'It was an unfortunate incident and callous for people to kill
fellow human beings without a thought about the consequences or
effect it would have on the society or families of the victims,' he
said.
Police command had launched a serious manhunt for the killers and
was still awaiting details of the incident from the company, which he
did not name.
The incident brings to 10 the number of policemen killed in
attacks by militants, political violence and robbery in Rivers State
in the last two weeks.
Militants demanding change have been targeting expatriate oil
workers and oil production facilities in the Niger Delta.
They have demanded employment, the provision of social
infrastructure, a greater say in the affairs of oil exports from the
region as well as remediation of the environment that has been
negatively affected by oil production activities.
Oil from the Niger Delta provides more than 90 per cent of
Nigeria's overall revenue.
Militant groups have abducted more than 70 expatriate oil workers
so far this year.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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