Gunmen disguised as riot police have abducted four foreign workers from the residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in Nigeria's oil city Port Harcourt, authorities said today.
Kidnapping has become an almost daily occurrence in the anarchic Niger Delta, home to Africa's largest oil industry, and about 30 foreigners are now being held by various armed groups in the vast wetlands region.
"Some expats were kidnapped from the club of Schlumberger Anadrill in a residential area last night," said Rivers state police commissioner Felix Ogbaudu, adding that the abductors were dressed as riot police.
Schlumberger Anadrill is a private subsidiary of US-listed Schlumberger, the world's largest oil services company.
A security source with an oil company in the area said the four hostages were citizens of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Pakistan.
Attacks on oil facilities and kidnappings have forced thousands of foreign workers to flee, and reduced oil output from the world's eighth-largest exporter by almost a million barrels a day, or one third of Nigeria's capacity.
Some armed groups say they are fighting for more autonomy for the impoverished oil province of southern Nigeria, but the line between militancy and crime is blurred and most abductions are by groups seeking ransom.
Gunmen used dynamite and machine guns to seize at least three top Indian managers of Indonesian chemical company Indorama from their residence near Port Harcourt on Friday. Diplomatic sources said the gunmen also took three family members including women and children.
The British government last week advised its citizens to avoid all travel to the Niger Delta.