Attempted rescue of captive oil workers in Nigeria leaves four dead

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria -- One of seven foreign oil workers taken hostage Wednesday was killed and another was wounded during a rescue attempt that also left two kidnappers and a soldier dead, officials said.

Gunmen had seized the seven hostages from a supply vessel belonging to a subsidiary of Italian oil giant Eni SpA about 30 miles off the coast of southern Nigeria in the latest attack by militants on facilities in the volatile Niger Delta, where most of the country's oil is produced.

An Eni statement confirmed that "during an attempt by the Nigerian navy to free the seven hostages ... there was an exchange of fire during which one hostage was killed and the remaining six, including one wounded one, were freed and taken to a safe place."

The slain hostage was British and the wounded man was Italian, according to a colleague who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the press.

Eni had said earlier the hostages were two Finns, an Italian, a Filipino, a Briton, a Pole and a Romanian. The Finnish Foreign Ministry in Helsinki confirmed that two Finns were among those freed.

Government and private security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media said the dead included two of the kidnappers and one Nigerian soldier.

In all, 25 foreign workers and nearly 60 Nigerian employees had been aboard the vessel belonging to a subsidiary of Italian oil giant Eni SpA that was attacked overnight, Eni said.

A private security contractor said that nearly all those on the vessel were held at gunpoint for a period before the attackers left with the seven captives.

Since the beginning of 2006, militant groups have attacked pipelines and taken workers hostage in violence that has cut about 25 percent of Nigeria's usual crude output of about 2.5 million barrels daily. Civilian protesters have also taken over oil facilities to protest lack of jobs and development.

Most oil workers kidnapped over the past year have been safely released. The captives are usually freed after a ransom is paid by the companies and the government, according to security analysts. In 2004, however, two foreign and five Nigerian subcontractors for Chevron died when their boat was ambushed in the creeks, and in August, a Nigerian hostage was killed during a botched rescue attempt by the Nigerian navy.

On Monday, Eni said a two-week armed siege at its Tebidada oil pumping station ended peacefully and the company resumed an output of 50,000 barrels per day. The facility, located in Bayelsa state, was occupied Nov. 6 by a group of militants and villagers who took 48 Nigerian workers hostage, seeking compensation from the company for oil spills. Several hostages escaped and some were released.

Despite Nigeria's being Africa's biggest oil producer, most inhabitants of the oil-rich delta remain poor. The country is the world's eighth-biggest oil exporter and the fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports.