Kidnappings in Nigerian oil city

Three foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the southern Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, a day after a US expatriate was shot dead, police say.
The group, who work for Italian firm Agip, were seized in a car, put on a boat and taken into creeks, police say.

A Nigerian militant group campaigning against the oil industry said it had no hand in the kidnappings or the killing.

It has kidnapped foreign oil workers before in its quest for more local control of the region's oil wealth.

Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said it appeared the kidnapping was the result of a dispute over money between a local community and Agip.

The BBC's Alex Last in Nigeria says that in the past such community disputes have been resolved relatively quickly, usually after a financial settlement.

Private dispute

On Wednesday, attackers on a motorbike shot the oil worker as he was driving his car early on Wednesday.




The shadowy oil militants

The man's name has been withheld. He worked for oil servicing company Baker Hughes Inc.

Police also believe this was a private dispute, rather than a militant operation, sources say.

The upsurge of attacks on foreign oil interests has cut the country's oil production by 20%.

Last month, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) renewed its threat to continue oil installation attacks.

It said the offer of thousands more jobs and a new motorway from President Olusegun Obasanjo did not address their demands for more local control of oil wealth and demilitarisation.

The shooting follows two car bomb attacks in recent weeks.

The Mend militant group claimed responsibility for them, saying the last one was a warning against Chinese expansion in the region.

Earlier that week, Chinese President Hu Jintao had secured four oil drilling licenses for China in return for $4bn (£2.25bn) of investment in Nigeria.

Most of its previous operations have been in the rivers and creeks of the Delta, rather than urban areas.



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