US oil workers killed by gunmen

Two American oil workers were killed when a speedboat full of gunmen fired on a boat carrying the employees in Nigeria’s violence-wracked oil delta, an army spokesman said today.

Nigerian army spokesman Maj. Said Ahmed said the unidentified oil workers were killed yesterday evening in an attack by unknown gunmen on a waterway in the Niger Delta, where the bulk of Nigeria’s oil is drilled.

Ahmed did not identify the men or their employer, saying ”details are still sketchy.”

US oil giant ChevronTexaco’s Nigerian subsidiary confirmed that two American oil contractors were ”missing” along with four Nigerians – two navy soldiers and two boatmen – in what the firm said was an “unprovoked attack” on Friday at 5pm local time (1600 GMT) on the Benin River, south of the oil city of Warri.

A spokesman said the company had “no conclusive proof” yet the two missing Americans were dead.

A third American, a ChevronTexaco employee, was in “stable condition” in hospital after sustaining gunshot wounds, company spokesman Deji Haastrup said.