MALABO, Feb 17: Gunmen in motor boats attacked the presidential palace in oil-producing Equatorial Guinea’s island capital on Tuesday before being repelled by the armed forces, the government said.

The government said the attackers came from nearby Nigeria’s Niger Delta, where seaborne raiding parties have grown increasingly bold in the past two years, launching assaults on banks and other targets in neighbouring countries.

Residents in Malabo, the hub of the fast-growing offshore oil industry in sub-Saharan Africa’s third biggest crude producer, were woken by gunfire. Government forces used a helicopter gunship to repulse the pre-dawn attack, they said.

“Our country was once again the victim of an attack by the rebels of the delta on the city of Malabo,” the government said in a statement.

“A contingent of rebel terrorists from the Niger Delta arrived in numerous boats and tried to invade the capital, with the aim of taking and destroying the presidential palace,” it said.

At least one attacker was shot dead and a group drowned when their boat was sunk by the navy, it said.

The former Spanish colony has suffered decades of instability and in 2004 dozens of foreign mercenaries, mostly South Africans, were caught trying to overthrow the president.

The 2004 coup attempt caught the world’s attention as it was led by a former British special forces officer. The main militant group in Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta denied any involvement in the attack.

“We heard of the incident but MEND is not involved at all.

The people are paranoid,” the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in a statement.

Government aircraft, including at least one helicopter gunship, took to the air over the city during the engagement, said a Western resident.

“(The attack) involved automatic weapons fire. There was active engagement for at least an hour. There are consistent reports that some sort of launch or fast boats were used. At least one put people ashore before the shooting started,” he said.—Reuters