allesennogwat
05-03-2007, 03:04 PM
Armed men abducted at least 20 foreigners in three separate incidents in southern Nigeria overnight to Thursday in the latest spate of violence to hit Africa's biggest oil producer.
The attacks, less than two weeks after presidential elections marred by violence and widespread allegations of fraud, followed another kidnapping Tuesday in which six expatriates were seized from a floating oil vessel.
On Wednesday night an unemployed Dutch oil worker was kidnapped from a bar in the southern town of Warri in the oil-rich Delta state.
Then early Thursday three Korean executives and eight Filipino workers were seized from a construction site in Rivers state after a gunfight.
In a third incident, gunmen kidnapped eight foreigners working on a floating storage vessel operated by ENI of Italy and Single Buoy Moorings, the Mystras, anchored 90 kilometers (55 miles) off the Rivers coast, only to announce hours later that they had released them.
Industry sources said the Mystras hostages were a Briton, two Croatians, one Australian, a Romanian, a Chilean and two Poles.
Poland's ambassador to Nigeria confirmed their release, saying they were taken to Port Harcourt for a medical checkup, PAP news agency reported in Warsaw.
An official with Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) said the attack had forced a production shutdown resulting in the loss of "between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day" of oil on the Okono field where the vessel was moored.
Nigeria's most high profile armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), claimed responsibility for the Mystras attack.
"They have all been released now and are heading to Port Harcourt. The vessel was meant to have been destroyed. We have no need for more hostages just yet," a spokesman for the group said in an email sent to AFP.
MEND, which seized six foreign workers in another offshore raid on Tuesday, however declined responsibility for the attack in which the Korean Daewoo Group executives and Filipinos workers were grabbed.
That attack happened around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) at the construction site of the Afam 6 power plant near Rivers state capital Port Harcourt.
One industry source said the attack appeared to have been carried out with inside knowledge, since Daewoo's kidnapped managing director, 52-year-old Chung Tae-Young, had just arrived in the area on a business trip.
"Two minibuses full of armed guys came and shot up the nearest roadblock, then they used dynamite on the Afam 6 gate and perimeter fence," the source, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
A local resident, also requesting anonymity, said one soldier and one local resident had been killed in the assault.
The military and the security men who guard the site normally remove their uniforms and hide their weapons at night in order to avoid risking their lives in such attacks, the resident said.
A Nigerian driver kidnapped along with the 11 at the construction site and later released was quoted by the South Korean foreign ministry as saying the Korean workers were not harmed by their captors.
"We have decided to temporarily close down the construction site and have evacuated 195 personnel including 135 Daewoo employees and 60 Filipino workers," said Lee Hong-Jae, head of Daewoo's foreign business operations.
MEND is the best-organised and best-equipped of the militant groups in the region, industry and security sources say.
Rich in oil reserves, the Niger Delta area has been at the centre of a long confrontation between the government, militants who claim to be fighting for a larger share of the country's oil resources for local people and a plethora of armed gangs.
The attacks, less than two weeks after presidential elections marred by violence and widespread allegations of fraud, followed another kidnapping Tuesday in which six expatriates were seized from a floating oil vessel.
On Wednesday night an unemployed Dutch oil worker was kidnapped from a bar in the southern town of Warri in the oil-rich Delta state.
Then early Thursday three Korean executives and eight Filipino workers were seized from a construction site in Rivers state after a gunfight.
In a third incident, gunmen kidnapped eight foreigners working on a floating storage vessel operated by ENI of Italy and Single Buoy Moorings, the Mystras, anchored 90 kilometers (55 miles) off the Rivers coast, only to announce hours later that they had released them.
Industry sources said the Mystras hostages were a Briton, two Croatians, one Australian, a Romanian, a Chilean and two Poles.
Poland's ambassador to Nigeria confirmed their release, saying they were taken to Port Harcourt for a medical checkup, PAP news agency reported in Warsaw.
An official with Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) said the attack had forced a production shutdown resulting in the loss of "between 40,000 and 50,000 barrels per day" of oil on the Okono field where the vessel was moored.
Nigeria's most high profile armed group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), claimed responsibility for the Mystras attack.
"They have all been released now and are heading to Port Harcourt. The vessel was meant to have been destroyed. We have no need for more hostages just yet," a spokesman for the group said in an email sent to AFP.
MEND, which seized six foreign workers in another offshore raid on Tuesday, however declined responsibility for the attack in which the Korean Daewoo Group executives and Filipinos workers were grabbed.
That attack happened around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) at the construction site of the Afam 6 power plant near Rivers state capital Port Harcourt.
One industry source said the attack appeared to have been carried out with inside knowledge, since Daewoo's kidnapped managing director, 52-year-old Chung Tae-Young, had just arrived in the area on a business trip.
"Two minibuses full of armed guys came and shot up the nearest roadblock, then they used dynamite on the Afam 6 gate and perimeter fence," the source, who asked not to be named, told AFP.
A local resident, also requesting anonymity, said one soldier and one local resident had been killed in the assault.
The military and the security men who guard the site normally remove their uniforms and hide their weapons at night in order to avoid risking their lives in such attacks, the resident said.
A Nigerian driver kidnapped along with the 11 at the construction site and later released was quoted by the South Korean foreign ministry as saying the Korean workers were not harmed by their captors.
"We have decided to temporarily close down the construction site and have evacuated 195 personnel including 135 Daewoo employees and 60 Filipino workers," said Lee Hong-Jae, head of Daewoo's foreign business operations.
MEND is the best-organised and best-equipped of the militant groups in the region, industry and security sources say.
Rich in oil reserves, the Niger Delta area has been at the centre of a long confrontation between the government, militants who claim to be fighting for a larger share of the country's oil resources for local people and a plethora of armed gangs.