Africa

Africa

Gunmen kill 2, abduct French citizen in northern Nigeria

21 December 2012 04:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A group of 30 armed men have reportedly killed at least two Nigerians and kidnapped a French engineer working for renewable energy firm Vergnet after storming a house in northern Nigeria, APA reports quoting Press TV.

“They opened fire, killing a security guard employed by the company and a neighbor of the house…I can confirm the abduction of a French national in the town of Rimi near the city of Katsina…The kidnappers numbering about 30 stormed the residence where the engineers of Vergnet were staying,” said the Katsina state police chief, Abdullahi Magaji on Thursday.

He added, “The gunmen later threw an explosive device into the police station on their way out [of] the town to distract the police from pursuing them.”

On December 17, unknown gunmen stormed the SP Brussels tanker about 64 kilometers (40 miles) off the coast of Niger Delta, kidnapping five Indian sailors.

Gunmen stormed a ship belonging to a French oil and gas company off the Nigerian coast in October, kidnapping seven foreign crewmembers, including six Russians and an Estonian.