Oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria

Nine foreign oil workers have been seized by armed militants from a barge in Nigeria’s Niger Delta.

The group, including three Americans, two Thais, two Egyptians, a Briton and a Filipino, were on a pipelaying barge.

Shell’s Forcados export terminal was also set on fire, and oil loading there has been suspended.

The attacks come a day after a militant commander told the BBC his group was declaring “total war” on all foreign oil interests in the Delta.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta gave oil companies and their employees until midnight on Friday night to leave the region.

More at the BBC.