Nigerian troops have smashed a "terror gang" said to be the brain behind a spate of sea-piracy andkidnapping in the restive southern Niger Delta area, especially the killing of seven people including two US oil workers in April,The Vanguard newspaper reported Tuesday.

Four suspects led by John Tobo, one of the most wanted, were arrested in Port Harcourt, capital of southern Rivers state after eight months of trail and were paraded Monday in the southern oil city of Warri.

They would be transferred to the Nigerian capital Abuja later, according to the newspaper.

On April 23, the seven including the two Americans and three military personnel were killed in a pirate attack on the Benin River as they inspected oil facilities abandoned last year.

Oil giant ChevronTexao, which the Americans were working for, promptly suspended plans to resume oil production in the area. Thesuspension has till date deprived the west African country of a loss of 140,000 barrels of crude oil production per day .

Armed attacks on oil facilities and kidnapping oil workers are common in the Niger Delta, where the vast majority of Nigeria's oil are produced.

Nigerian troops had launched a massive security operation in the region and killed at least 22 suspected pirates early this month.

Source: Xinhua