Gunmen stormed a residence in Taraba State which houses foreign workers in an attempted kidnapping that left two police guards dead on Thursday.
The State Police Command confirmed the attack at the site owned by the Triacta Engineering Company at the village of Tella. However, they declined to give more information including whether the three Lebanese engineers working there were the target.
However, an official from the company, who asked not to be named there was every reason to believe that the expatriates were the target considering the recent happenings in the country.
“It is a clear case of a failed kidnap,” he said.
A resident, Yohanna Dauda, said, “Last night, there were shootings around the house where the expatriate construction workers are living. Two policemen guarding the house were shot dead.”
The company official and other residents confirmed those details to Reuters, adding that the Lebanese engineers ran when the gunfire broke out and escaped the incident unharmed.
The state police command spokesman, Amos Olaoye, only said: “there was an incident in Tella last night… details are sketchy.”
On February 16, gunmen raided a construction site in Bauchi State, abducting seven foreigners.
Responsibility for the attack has been claimed by Ansaru, a splinter group of the Boko Haram terrorist group that has been responsible for the killing of thousands of Nigerians since 2009.
Separately, seven members of a French family, including four children, were abducted near the Nigerian border in Cameroun on February 19.
In a video posted on YouTube, the kidnappers claimed to be members of Boko Haram, but their affiliation remains unclear.
Taraba has a long, porous border with Cameroun, but the targeted village, where Triacta has a bridge project, is deep inside Nigerian territory.