A Nigerian security guard was killed and four people were wounded, two of them critically, in an anti-Libyan protest outside the US consulate in Lagos, officials said Wednesday.
The man who died, whose name was not immediately released, was a Nigerian civilian working as a security guard for the Bulgarian embassy, Bulgarian and US officials said.
Two of those wounded were Nigerian policemen working with the diplomatic protection service and seconded to the US consulate who were shot with their own weapons after being overpowered by the protesters.
One was a protester and another a by-stander.
The demonstration, which took place on Tuesday, was staged to protest the reported killings of black Africans in Libya last month, the US consulate said.
More than 4,500 Nigerians have been deported from Libya in the past week amid reports of more than 130 black African migrant workers being killed in the country.
The violent demonstration was organized by members of the Odua People's Congress (OPC), a militant group based in southwestern Nigeria.
US officials said in a statement they believed that the OPC organized the protest outside the consulate because they believed the United States would be able to influence the Libyan government.
"We are certain that Libya was the target of the demonstration," the officials said.
The Libyan embassy was recently moved to the new Nigerian capital, Abuja, and has declined all comment on the deportations and reported killings.
The OPC was apparently unaware of the strained US-Libyan relations, officials said – LAGOS (AFP)
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