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British hostage is killed in Nigeria

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published November 23, 2006

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria - One of seven foreign oil workers taken hostage Wednesday was killed and another was wounded during a rescue attempt that also left two kidnappers and a soldier dead, officials said.

Gunmen had seized the seven hostages from a supply vessel belonging to a subsidiary of Italian oil giant Eni SpA about 30 miles off the coast of southern Nigeria. It was the latest attack by militants on facilities in the volatile Niger Delta, where most of the country's oil is produced.

An Eni statement said that "during an attempt by the Nigerian navy to free the seven hostages ...there was an exchange of fire during which one hostage was killed and the remaining six, including one wounded one, were freed and taken to a safe place."

The British Foreign Office has confirmed that a British hostage was killed in attempts to free the hostages.

The Italian Foreign Ministry confirmed the Italian hostage was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Eni had said earlier the hostages were two Finns, an Italian, a Filipino, a Briton, a Pole and a Romanian.

Finland's Foreign Ministry confirmed that two Finns were among those freed and they were unharmed. They will return to Finland today.

Since the beginning of 2006, militant groups have attacked pipelines and taken workers hostage in violence that has cut about 25 percent of Nigeria's usual crude output of about 2.5-million barrels daily.

Civilian protesters have also taken over oil facilities to protest a lack of jobs and development.

Most oil workers kidnapped over the past year have been safely released.

The captives are usually freed after a ransom is paid by the companies and the government, according to security analysts.

[Last modified November 23, 2006, 00:02:32]