Kidnappers snatched a 3-year-old British girl from her vehicle as it carried her to school yesterday in Nigeria's lawless southern oil region, officials said.

Several attackers smashed a window on the vehicle as it sat in heavy morning traffic in the southern city of Port Harcourt and spirited the child away, a British Embassy official said.

He said the girl's father was a Briton working in Port Harcourt, but gave no more details on the identity of the parents or the man's employer.

In London, Britain's Foreign Office called for the "immediate safe release" of the girl, identified by a Foreign Office spokesman as Margaret Hill.

"We do not know who took her. We are in contact with her parents and are providing assistance. High Commission officials are in contact with the Nigerian authorities," the spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

Nigerian security forces were investigating the case, said Rivers state police Spokeswoman Irejua Barasua.

Criminal kidnappings have become common in the region, where the crude in Africa's biggest producer is pumped. More than a dozen foreigners are currently in captivity and more than 200 have been taken since the end of 2005.

The targeting of women and children is uncommon, however, with attackers generally focusing on male employees of large, international companies that are presumed to have money for ransom payments.

Yesterday's seizure was the first known recent kidnapping of a foreign child in the Niger Delta, oil industry officials said. Two other children, including one of a prominent politician, were taken this year. Both were released unharmed within days.

Hostages are generally released unharmed after a ransom is paid - often by state governments that control huge, unregulated security slush funds, according to industry officials. At least two hostages have been killed in the crossfire when security forces crossed the kidnappers.

On Wednesday, gunmen attacked an oil rig in the southern oil heartland and seized five expatriate workers: an Australian, two New Zealanders, one Lebanese and one Venezuelan. Royal Dutch Shell said it owned the rig, but that there were no production cuts reported.

The two New Zealanders were identified as Bruce Klenner and Brent Goddard by Klenner's wife, Linda.

(China Daily via agencies July 6, 2007)