Gunmen have attacked an offshore oil pumping station in Nigeria's Niger Delta, kidnapping three Italians and a Lebanese man, say local officials.
The dawn raid by masked men in about seven speedboats left one person dead, who may have been a bystander.
Those kidnapped work for Agip - a part of Italian oil giant ENI SpA.
Kidnappings for ransom are common in the Niger Delta and hostages are usually freed after ransom payments.
Though a British hostage and Nigerian worker were killed during a recent botched rescue attempt.
"The attackers were wearing camouflage and came in about seven boats," Bayelsa State police commissioner Hafiz Ringim said.
"They burnt some vehicles and killed one person."
The commander of Nigerian armed troops deployed in the Niger Delta to protect oil installations said the gunmen tried to storm the oil flow station but were repelled by his men who exchanged fire with them.
"They did not succeed in entering the terminal but instead they by-passed it and went to a residential facility where they kidnapped (the) expatriates," Alfred Ilogho told Reuters.
The world's eighth biggest exporter of crude has been losing more than 500,000 bpd, since February when militants demanding greater local control of oil wealth staged a series of raids on the industry.
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