PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AFP) - Armed men kidnapped a three-year-old British girl on Thursday, heightening a foreign hostage crisis in Nigeria's troubled main oil producing zone.
Police said Margaret Hill was snatched as she was being dropped at her school in Port Harcourt in the southern Rivers state.
The incident came barely 24 hours after five foreign oil workers -- two New Zealanders, an Australian, a Lebanese and a Venezuelan were kidnapped in the Soku region of Rivers state.
Nearly all multi-national oil companies operating in the Niger Delta have moved families of expatriate staff away from the region because of the troubles there.
No claim of responsibility has been made for kidnappings of the girl or the five oil workers.
But they were seized after the most high profile armed group in southern Nigeria, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) announced the end of a month-old suspension of attacks on oil installations on Wednesday.
Some 200 foreigners, mostly oil workers, have been kidnapped in the region since the beginning of 2006. Most have been freed again after a few days or weeks, and often a ransom is paid.
A federal police spokesman, Haz Iwendi, told AFP that the British girl was seized at 7:15 am (0615 GMT).
A police source said the girl was believed to be the daughter of a Briton who owns a bar in Port Harcourt. Foreign oil workers were kidnapped from the bar in August 2006.
[visit website]
|
Daily Musings |
About Us | Contact Us |
