Nigerian kidnappers strike

2008-10-05 14:13

Port Harcourt - Unidentified gunmen seized six Filipino seamen from a boat plying the waterways of Nigeria's southern oil delta region, while a British kidnap victim was released in the same area, officials said.

Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa said the six Filipinos were taken on Saturday, only hours after the British man was freed.

There was no indication two incidents were linked.

No ransom was paid for the Briton's release after weeks of captivity since his mid-September abduction, said Musa, a spokesperson for the military task force in the Niger Delta.

The man was "safe and well" and has been visited by consular officials, a British Foreign Office spokesperson said in London on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.

More than 200 foreign workers have been kidnapped in nearly three years of rising violence across the lawless region. Hostages are normally released unharmed after a ransom is paid, but the violence has hit crude output in Africa's biggest producer.

The region - about the size of Scotland - is roamed by myriad criminal and militant groups who hide from authorities in the mangrove swamps and twisting creeks.

- AP