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Oil-rich Equatorial Guinea's armed forces repulsed a
seaborne attack Tuesday by gunmen it identified as
Nigerian MEND guerrillas, the West African country's
information minister said.
"A
terrorist attack perpetrated by the Niger Delta
group surprised us this morning. But the security
forces reacted immediately" and repulsed the attack,
the minister, Jeronimo Osa Ekoro, said by telephone.
In
a separate statement, the government said that the
target of the raid was the presidential palace in
the capital Malabo.Equatorial Guinea, Africa's
third-biggest oil exporter, has a history of coups,
the last successful one being when President Teodoro
Obiang Nguema toppled his uncle in 1979.Residents in
the capital, located on an island off the west coast
of Africa, said gunfire rattled across the city for
about three hours from 3:00 am (0200 GMT) before
calm returned to the city.Osa Ekoro gave no details
of how many attackers were involved, but said "many
of them were killed in the sea during the exchange
of fire" and the boat in which they arrived was
"destroyed" by the navy.
One
Equatorial Guinea soldier was killed, and several
wounded, the minister said.Some of the attackers
"have been arrested, still others have taken flight.
Those who have been arrested are currently being
interrogated," he added.
MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta), Nigeria's main militant group, denied
involvement."The story is false. This is a United
States conspiracy to justify the need to establish
an AFRICOM base in the region," MEND said in an
email, referring to plans to set up a regional US
military headquarters in west Africa.Equatorial
Guinea's opposition, exiled to Spain, condemned the
attack.
"We
don't know who carried out the attack nor what the
motive was," the opposition's second in command,
Armengol Engonga, said.
"We
don't approve of this type of attack, especially on
a defenceless civilian population.Witnesses in
Malabo said the armed forces were manning
roadblocks, searching vehicles and checking
identities several hours after the shooting.State
radio and public television programming continued as
normal, but banks, offices and shops were shut and
the city centre was almost deserted.Locals gathering
in small groups were sent home by security forces.
"We
don't know what's happened. There has been a big
deployment of soldiers. There's been some kind of
attempt at a sea landing. But the assailants were
routed," a diplomat said earlier, adding that
foreign nationals had been advised to stay at home.
Armoured vehicles had blocked the entrance to the
city's main hospital and only medical personnel were
being allowed access.MEND regularly attacks oil
facilities in southern Nigeria. The group says it is
battling for a greater share in the region's oil
resources for local people.
Security forces on the west African island of Sao
Tome -- some 320 kilometres (200 miles) from
Equatorial Guinea -- were placed on alert following
the attack, a local military source said.
Sources close to militant groups in the Niger Delta
say some members of MEND were recruited and trained
to take part in a 2004 coup attempt in Equatorial
Guinea but were intercepted before they arrived on
the island.British mercenary Simon Mann is currently
serving a 34 year jail sentence for leading the
aborted coup in Equatorial Guinea.The plot hit world
headlines after Mark Thatcher, son of Britain's
former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was
arrested on suspicion of bankrolling it.Thatcher
pleaded guilty in 2005 to breaking South Africa's
anti-mercenary laws but escaped prison with a fine
and a four-year suspended sentence. MEND has
normally confined its operations to southern Nigeria
and its offshore oil installations. Security sources
have however linked the group to more ambitious
attacks carried out in recent months on vessels off
the coast of Cameroon.
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