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Kidnapped Briton freed
05/10/2007 11:11 - (SA)
Port Harcourt - Nigerian troops freed a kidnapped British national during a dawn raid on Friday in a village on the outskirts of the country's oil industry hub of Port Harcourt, said a military spokesperson.
Major Sagir Musa, spokesperson for the joint military task force battling militants and criminals targeting Nigeria's oil industry, said oil worker David Ward was rescued by troops in Abaara Etche village, 30km west of Port Harcourt.
Musa gave no further details, but said the military would later issue a formal statement on the incident. Ward, an employee of oil service company, Hydrodive, was abducted from his car by gunmen on August 10 on his way to work.
More than 200 foreign oil workers had been kidnapped in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta since militants stepped up their attacks in late 2005.
The militants were campaigning for more local control of oil revenues by the region's impoverished inhabitants. Criminal gangs that operated in the area also carried out kidnappings for ransom.
The attacks cut at least a quarter of the daily 2.5 million barrel export of Africa's leading oil producer and added to the upward pressure on global oil prices.
Militant activity had calmed in recent weeks as the new government of President Umaru Yar'Adua released two regional leaders imprisoned on treason or corruption charges, appearing to meet a number of the conditions set by the main militant group.
Troops had also increased raids on suspected militant and criminal hideouts in the oil region.
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