France suspects terrorist link in Nigeria kidnapping

PARIS | Fri Dec 21, 2012 1:58pm EST

PARIS Dec 21 (Reuters) - France suspects a group with "terrorist" links may have kidnapped a French energy worker in northern Nigeria this week, a judicial source said on Friday.

No one has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the worker, employed by renewable energy company Vergnet, close to the border with Niger on Wednesday. Islamist groups linked to Boko Haram have been behind similar kidnappings.

France's DCRI intelligence agency has been ordered to investigate "kidnapping by an organised group linked to a terrorist activity", the judicial source told Reuters.

President Francois Hollande said during a visit to Algeria on Thursday that no effort would be spared to find the hostage.

The attack happened in the town of Rimi, when some 30 gunman attacked a Vergnet residence, killing a policeman and a security guard. A police station nearby was bombed and some inmates freed, a police spokesman said.

Vergnet is building Nigeria's first wind farm, in Katsina state.

The kidnap vitim became the ninth French citizen being held hostage in Africa: seven others are in the arid Sahel belt and one in Somalia. (Reporting By Gerard Bon; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

View the original article here

Pirates attack tanker off Nigeria, kidnap five - ship manager

LONDON | Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:26am EST

LONDON Dec 19 (Reuters) - Pirates have attacked and looted a tanker off the coast of Nigeria, taking five crew members hostage, the ship's operating company said on Wednesday.

Piracy and kidnapping in the oil-producing Delta and offshore are common, and West Africa's oil-rich Gulf of Guinea is second only to the waters off Somalia for the risk of pirate attacks, which drives up shipping insurance costs.

"On Monday the vessel (SP Brussels) was boarded by heavily armed pirates whist approximately 40 miles off the Niger Delta," Medallion Marine said in a statement.

"The pirates ransacked the vessel for personal belongings and took five crew members with them on their departure."

Medallion Marine did not give the nationalities of those kidnapped or details of the ship's cargo.

The Nigerian Navy were not available for comment. (Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Alison Williams)

View the original article here