Militant group abducts six Filipinos in Niger Delta (Roundup)

Jan 21, 2007, 10:00 GMT

Abuja - A militant group in the Niger Delta abducted six Filipinos near the Warri export terminal Sunday, Nigerian security operatives in the area said.

The six were abducted as a oil service company vessel in which they were working was moving toward the port. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which had been at the forefront of myriad group of abductors of expatriate oil workers, said it had nothing to do with Sunday's abduction.

'The Filipinos were abducted by youths of a community in the area bordering the Warri port. It has nothing to do with us,' Jomo Gbomo, spokesman of the movement, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Last Wednesday, the movement declared that it was stopping abduction of expatriate oil workers and was shifting its activities to bombing and destruction of oil installations to frustrate Nigeria's oil exports.

It made the declaration when it was releasing an ailing Italian, one of tree Italians and a Lebanese abducted by the group December 7.

The abduction of the Filipinos brings to 20 the number of expatriate oil workers abducted in the Niger Delta since the beginning of the year.

On January 5, five Chinese nationals, employees of a telecommunications firm, were abducted in Port Harcourt. They were released last Wednesday.

Nine Koreans and a Nigerian, workers of Daewoo, an oil service company were abducted in Bayelsa State on January 10, and were released January 12.

Restiveness in the Niger Delta caused Nigeria a loss of 4.4 billion dollars in oil exports in 2006.