Chinese construction worker shot dead in Maiduguri

The attack reportedly occurred in the morning at a road construction site in the city of Maiduguri, said the Borno State ministry of works spokesman Babakura Bukar.

He said it was not immediately clear if the Chinese national had survived the bullet wound, but a hospital source that requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to press told The Associated Press that the hospital received the dead body of a Chinese man at about noon Friday.

An Associated Press reporter who went to the construction site on Lagos Street said all workers, Chinese and Nigerian, had deserted the site Friday afternoon. With the road partly excavated, there remained only a narrow lane for motorists to use. Lagos Street is the main link to the busy neighborhood which is home to the state's university.

Bukar could not say when or if the construction workers would return and the Chinese embassy could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

The incident comes about two weeks after a Chinese cook for another construction company was shot dead while shopping at a food market in a town outside Maiduguri.

Several Chinese construction companies operate in Nigeria. In Borno state, most if not all government-funded projects are being undertaken by Chinese companies