Unidentified assailants on Monday attacked a Naval vessel escorting petroleum-industry watercraft in chaotic southern Nigeria, killing one sailor and injuring another, officials said.
The gunmen fired on the boats serving the natural gas industry as they headed toward an island hosting an oil-export terminal, said a senior security officer on condition of anonymity, citing prohibition on speaking with the media.
One sailor died and another was injured, the official said. None of the myriad armed groups operating in the region where the oil is pumped immediately claimed responsibility. Nigeria is Africa’s biggest oil producer.
Militant attacks have cut Nigeria’s oil output by nearly one quarter in the past two years, helping send oil prices to all-time highs.
Militants say they are fighting for more government oil revenues for their impoverished region, but criminal gangs also flourish in the Niger Delta and the two are closely allied and frequently indistinguishable.