Gunmen have kidnapped a Filipino oil worker and killed his police escort in Nigeria’s main oil region, police say.
The Filipino was travelling south from the south-eastern city of Owerri to Port Harcourt when the gunmen attacked.
The gunmen reportedly blocked the road with a van and shot dead the policeman who tried to stop the kidnapping.
The latest kidnapping brings to 25 the number of Filipino workers being held by militant groups in the oil-rich Niger Delta creeks.
Airport closed
Nigerian police authorities confirmed the shooting but said details were still sketchy.
“It has been confirmed that a Filipino was taken away and a policeman killed near Owerri airport,” Rivers State police commissioner Felix Ogbaudu told the BBC.
Port Harcourt airport has been closed since last August for maintenance, so people travelling to the city by air have to fly to Owerri in Imo State and drive another two or three hours to get to Port Harcourt.
Foreigners driving from Owerri to Port Harcourt often take armed police escorts for protection.
As well as the 25 Filipino hostages, two Italians, a Briton, an American and a Lebanese are being held by militant groups fighting for greater local control of the oil which comes from the region.
On Sunday, nine Chinese workers were released after spending 11 days in captivity.
The seizing of the 24 Filipinos on 20 January prompted Philippine President Gloria Arroyo to bar Filipino workers travelling to Nigeria for employment.
Last week, some militant groups in oil-rich region warned that unless their jailed leaders were released abduction of foreigners would continue.
Most abductions are resolved by the payment of ransoms that are often denied, a trend that has given rise to copy-cat abductions as kidnappers have made money from them.
A fifth of oil production capacity from Nigeria, the world’s eighth-biggest exporter of crude, has been shut down for a year because of militant attacks on oil facilities.