Korean hostages in Nigeria to be freed - militants

LAGOS, June 8 (Reuters) Five South Korean gas workers kidnapped by militants in Nigeria will be released today after a plea from the jailed militant leader in whose name the men were abducted, the kidnappers said.

Three different groups were involved in the bloody raid on a small natural gas plant in the Niger Delta yesterday and had demanded the release of jailed leader Mujahid Dokubo-Asari as a condition for the Koreans' freedom.

''The hostages will be released soon as requested by our patriotic and esteemed leader,'' the Joint Revolutionary Council said in an e-mail.

''The hostages will be released today ... The prisoners will be released before 1830 hrs IST,'' the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), another group behind the abduction, said in an e-mail to Reuters.

The abduction was the latest example of a wave of violence against the oil industry in the delta of southern Nigeria, where militancy is fuelled by poverty, lawlessness, corruption and struggles for control of a lucrative oil theft business.

The Joint Revolutionary Council also published a letter purportedly sent by Asari, who is in custody on treason charges.

''They should be set free for the interest of the people on whose behalf we have lifted up the banner of freedom,'' Asari said in the letter, also sent by e-mail.

Asari said he had been asked to request the release by the king of his Kalabari clan on whose territory the kidnapping took place.

King TJT Princewill Amachree XI said it was also for ''the downtrodden fishermen and women who have been subjected to untold torture and victimization since the five South Koreans were secured in their custody''.

BLOODY RAID Several troops, police and militants were killed in two firefights during the abduction at a small natural gas production plant at Cawthorne Channel, located deep in the mangrove-lined creeks of Rivers state.

Attacks by MEND in other parts of the delta in January and February have forced the closure of a quarter of Nigeria's oil output, but yesterday's raid had little impact on the industry.

Diplomats had feared the kidnapping would last weeks, in line with two similar abductions by MEND earlier this year, but the involvement of Asari's group may have facilitated its resolution, they said.

MEND, whose leadership is unknown, is pressing for more local power over the Niger Delta's oil resources and has said it aims to bring the OPEC nation's exports to a complete halt.

Asari's group fought sporadic gun battles with troops in 2004 before signing a truce and disarming. He argues for secession of the oil producing delta, and was arrested last year on charges that he aimed to overthrow the government.

Three of the kidnapped South Koreans worked for Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co, and the other two were with Korea Gas Corp.

The Cawthorne Channel plant is operated by Royal Dutch Shell but the Korean companies work there as contractors.

The attack forced Shell to shut 75 million cubic feet a day of natural gas output, which is normally sent to a big liquefied natural gas export plant at Bonny, industry sources said.

The supply cut had no impact on operations at the Bonny plant, which processes a total of 3.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day, a spokeswoman said.

REUTERS KD VV1510