"A terrorist attack perpetrated by the Niger Delta group surprised us this morning. But the security forces reacted immediately" and repulsed the attack, the minister, Jeronimo Osa Ekoro, told AFP by telephone.

In a separate statement, the government said that the target of the raid was the presidential palace in the capital Malabo.

Equatorial Guinea, Africa's third-biggest oil exporter, has a history of coups, the last successful one being when President Teodoro Obiang Nguema toppled his uncle in 1979.

Residents in the capital, located on an island off the west coast of Africa, said gunfire rattled across the city for about three hours from 3:00 am (0200 GMT) before calm returned to the city.

Osa Ekoro gave no details of how many attackers were involved, but said "many of them were killed in the sea during the exchange of fire" and the boat in which they arrived was "destroyed" by the navy.

One Equatorial Guinea soldier was killed, and several wounded, the minister said.

Some of the attackers "have been arrested, still others have taken flight. Those who have been arrested are currently being interrogated," he added.

MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta), Nigeria's main militant group, denied involvement.

"The story is false. This is a United States conspiracy to justify the need to establish an AFRICOM base in the region," MEND said in an email, referring to plans to set up a regional US military headquarters in west Africa.

Equatorial Guinea's opposition, exiled to Spain, condemned the attack.

"We don't know who carried out the attack nor what the motive was," the opposition's second in command, Armengol Engonga, told AFP.

"We don't approve of this type of attack, especially on a defenceless civilian population."

Witnesses in Malabo said the armed forces were manning roadblocks, searching vehicles and checking identities several hours after the shooting.

State radio and public television programming continued as normal, but banks, offices and shops were shut and the city centre was almost deserted.

Locals gathering in small groups were sent home by security forces.

"We don't know what's happened. There has been a big deployment of soldiers. There's been some kind of attempt at a sea landing. But the assailants were routed," a diplomat told AFP earlier, adding that foreign nationals had been advised to stay at home.

Armoured vehicles had blocked the entrance to the city's main hospital and only medical personnel were being allowed access.

MEND regularly attacks oil facilities in southern Nigeria. The group says it is battling for a greater share in the region's oil resources for local people.

Security forces on the west African island of Sao Tome -- some 320 kilometres (200 miles) from Equatorial Guinea -- were placed on alert following the attack, a local military source told AFP.

Sources close to militant groups in the Niger Delta say some members of MEND were recruited and trained to take part in a 2004 coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea but were intercepted before they arrived on the island.

British mercenary Simon Mann is currently serving a 34 year jail sentence for leading the aborted coup in Equatorial Guinea.

The plot hit world headlines after Mark Thatcher, son of Britain's former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was arrested on suspicion of bankrolling it.

Thatcher pleaded guilty in 2005 to breaking South Africa's anti-mercenary laws but escaped prison with a fine and a four-year suspended sentence.

MEND has normally confined its operations to southern Nigeria and its offshore oil installations. Security sources have however linked the group to more ambitious attacks carried out in recent months on vessels off the coast of Cameroon.

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