The kidnapping of seven foreign oil workers on early Wednesday
from an Italian supply vessel some 50 km off the coast of southern
Nigeria ended with one hostage killed and another one seriously
wounded, a Nigerian military source said on Wednesday.
In a rescue operation launched by the Nigerian army, a British
hostage was killed and an Italian hostage was gravely wounded while
the other five were freed without hurt, said the military officer
who refused to be identified.
He added that two kidnappers and one government soldier were
also dead, but stressed that the rescue mission was fairly
successful.
"During the attempt by Nigerian military marines to free the
seven hostages ... gunfire was exchanged during which a hostage was
killed while six others, one of whom was wounded, were freed and
are safe," the Italian company ENI said on its website.
British Foreign Ministry also confirmed the hostage killed was a
British national. According to the ENI, the parent company of the
Agip company which owned the supply vessel, the kidnapped
foreigners included one Italian, one Briton, a Filipino, two Finns,
a Pole and a Romanian.
The seven foreigners were captured on the Agip's supply vessel
off the Nigerian coast, about 50 km from the coast of Nigeria's
southern state of Cross Rivers.
Joshua Benamiasia, coordinator of the Bayelsa State Government
security outfit "Bayelsa Volunteers," said information reaching him
had it that the navy had intercepted the militants.
So far no group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping,
but a reliable source said the rampaging militants that invaded the
Clough Creek flow station at Ekeremor and the Tebidaba flow station
may have been responsible for the latest attack following the
alleged refusal of the state government to pay them the usual
ransom as was claimed to be the practice in the past but often
denied by the latter.
In Lagos, Nigerian police, who had confirmed the kidnapping,
denied all knowledge of the rescue attempt or of casualties.
The kidnapping was the latest in a series of attack on oil
installations in the volatile Niger Delta, where most of the
country's oil is produced. Since the beginning of the year,
militant groups have constantly attacked oil facilities and taken
oil workers hostage.
Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer and the sixth largest oil
exporter in the world, has a daily crude oil output of 2.6 million
barrels.
(Xinhua News Agency November 23, 2006)
