Pirates armed with Kalashnikov rifles clashed with Nigerian navy forces in a failed bid to take over an offshore oil platform, then kidnapped three French employees of a marine services company while retreating, a Nigerian official said Wednesday.
Navy Commodore David Nabaida said a Thai employee also may have been taken hostage by the pirates during the attack, which began early Wednesday morning.
The French-flagged vessel Bourbon Alexandre was working in an offshore oil field operated by Addax Petroleum, a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned oil producer Sinopec Group.
Now, it seems even the rebels trying to broker their release have lost track of them.
Nigeria's most prominent militant group said on Friday it had lost contact with the kidnappers of three French oil workers and one Thai national seized this week off the coast of the West African nation.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said on Wednesday it had "located" four kidnap victims, adding it was negotiating with the captors.
But on Friday, it told AFP in a statement: "We have lost contact with the abductors of the three French nationals and one Thai."
MEND, which has claimed its own attacks in the past and has also been seen as an umbrella group for local gangs in the oil-producing Niger Delta, said the captives "have also been relocated to an unknown destination."
h/t Pete
By: Brant
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