Nigerian security forces have killed two suspected fighters after an attack on an oil facility in the Niger Delta.
About 60 fighters in speedboats launched the pre-dawn raid on Monday on a logistics base operated by Royal Dutch Shell at
There were no oil workers at the field base because they had been evacuated after an attack at another Shell facility last month, a Shell source said.
A defence official said. "There was a Shell facility the militants were planning to attack. Three were killed and some were captured."
A security source put the number of suspected fighters killed at two.
"It is the first significant success of the navy," he said.
Previous attacks
On October 10, villagers from the Oporoma community seized 60 oil workers at a nearby pumping station. The workers were released after two days.
Poorly paid and ill-equipped, Nigerian security forces often abandon their posts when oil facilities are attacked. They are usually outgunned and outnumbered by their attackers.
About 600,000 barrels of oil a day are being prevented from leavng Nigeria since militant attacks in neighbouring Delta state in February.
Another oil production facility at Tebidaba in Bayelsa has been under siege since November 6, reducing output there by 50,000 barrels a day.
About 40 workers of Italian oil company Agip are currently being held on the platform while their captors discuss demands for oil-spill compensation with the local government.