About a dozen armed men attacked a southern Nigeria oil facility Wednesday, leaving two attackers dead in a fight with naval forces, police officials said.
Eleven men attacked the Oporoma station to try to shut down the facility, which is owned by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, said Hafiz Ringim, police commissioner for Bayelsa state.
He said naval forces pushed back the men, and two of the assailants were killed in the fighting and one was captured.
No damage was reported to the flowstation, which connects oil pipelines. Shell officials were not immediately available for comment.
Ringim said the captured attacker told police the group mounted the assault to recover the rest of a ransom that was not fully paid after a hostage-taking last month.
It was not immediately clear what kidnapping incident the attacker was referring to, although the same flowstation was attacked last month. Employees were held for two days and the facility was looted.
Ringim said the captured assailant said the group had only received $38,500 of a promised $300,000.
More than 60 foreigners have been kidnapped in Africa’s largest oil producer since the beginning of the year, along with several times that number of Nigerians.