Gunfire near Nigerian state govt HQ in oil delta

Yenagoa (Nigeria), Apr 21: Heavy gunfire and explosions today broke out near the headquarters of the Bayelsa state government in Nigeria's oil-producing delta, witnesses said.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the apparent attack on the eve of presidential elections in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter.

The governor of Bayelsa state, Goodluck Jonathan, is the vice presidential candidate for the ruling People's Democratic Party.

''There is heavy gunfire and explosions in the area of government house. The ground is shaking,'' Reuters photographer George Esiri said from the scene.

Baylesa is the home of the Ijaw ethnic group, which has been at the forefront of an armed insurgency against the federal government to demand more autonomy and a greater share of oil revenues.

A series of militant attacks on Western oil installations have forced Nigeria to reduce exports by a fifth for more than a year, and kidnappings of foreign oil workers in the Niger Delta are an almost weekly occurrence.

Reuters