Port Harcourt, Nigeria (AHN) - Gunmen stormed into a newspaper office and shot a British professor and a security guard in the city of Port Harcourt in oil-rich Niger Delta, Wednesday. The professor received bullet on the hand while the guard was shot in leg. The gunmen then robbed the newspaper of several laptops and trashed the office.
Professor Michael Watts, who was attending an awards ceremony in the office, told reporters, "I'm feeling a little rattled, like everyone in the office. Thank God no one was seriously injured... It could have been much worse."
Officials say the criminals followed the professor while he was returning from bank. BBC quotes journalist Ibiba Donpedro as saying, "They were saying, 'Where's the white man? Where's the money from the bank?'"
The attack comes a day after a Nigerian oil worker was killed in his house in the region. Several armed militant groups have plagued Africa's biggest oil producer, demanding bigger share in profit from the sale of resources. Abductions for ransom are common and have become a booming business, rarely electing to kill those that are captured.
