Nigerian militants who staged a series of attacks on oil facilities today identified nine foreign hostages they had taken as three Americans, a Briton, two Egyptians, two Thais and one Filipino.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said the employees of US oil services company Willbros were taken in an attack on a barge known as "Barge 318".
Militants said the attacks were a direct response to military helicopter gunship attacks against Ijaw communities in Delta state on Wednesday and Friday, and they promised a further wave of attacks "on a grander scale".