Pirates in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta hijacked a police gunboat, killed three officers and kidnapped six local oil workers, the military said today.
Joint Task force spokesman Col. Mustapha Anka said the gunboat and police were escorting a barge-load of oil for the Nigerian Agip Oil Company, which was not attacked. The attack happened on Friday on the Barbara River in southern Bayelsa state, Anka told The Associated Press.
The day before, the Bayelsa police command reported that six Nigerians working for Agip had been kidnapped by pirates. Oil workers usually are held for ransom and released unharmed.
Piracy in Nigeria is aimed at oil theft and kidnapping for ransom and cost the nation some $131 million in the past three years, according to the Contemporary Maritime Piracy Database.
While piracy has gone down in the rest of world and especially in Somalia since a multinational force was deployed, it has increased in Nigeria.
Last year, Nigerian pirates and armed robbers were blamed for 31 of 51 attacks in the region, including in waters far from home off Gabon, Ivory Coast and Togo, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
