AP)–At least one U.S. citizen is among the two foreign oil workers kidnapped Tuesday in restive southern Nigeria, police said.
U.S. Embassy officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
One of the main militant groups in the region said it wasn’t responsible for the attack.
“There is a booming trade in hostages in these parts,” the group’s spokesman said in an e-mail message to The AP.
There have been nearly 100 kidnappings over the past year in the southern Niger Delta region of Africa’s largest crude producer. Despite the vast energy stores lying beneath their lands, most of the region’s people are mired in deep poverty and hostage-takings for ransom have become common.
Hostages are generally released unharmed, although casualties sometimes occur during gunfights between the hostage-takers and the military forces that patrol the vast region of swamps and creeks. At least 11 foreigners are believed to remain in captivity.
Note from chief………..
I can confirm the nationality of the second hostage. He is British.