Suspected militants killed three Nigerian Navy officers and injured two when they fired on their patrol boat off the coast in the oil-producing Akwa Ibom state, the private Punch newspaper reported Sunday. It said the incident occurred on Saturday morning, a few minutes after the officers left on a patrol of the waterways. Punch quoted a boat operator, Mr. David Ekong, as saying the boat had just left on its mission when sporadic gunshots were heard.
“The boat driver and one of the officers are in a critical condition. The militants shot and destroyed the naval boat. Two surviving officers jumped into the sea and were later rescued by fishermen.
‘We saw naval personnel carrying one of the dead officers. The corpses of the other two are yet to be found,” the operator was quoted as saying.
The Nigerian Navy has yet to confirm the attack, for which no group has claimed responsibility.
But the oil region’s largest militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has recently said it is resuming its violent campaign.