Nigerian gunmen free British man on health grounds

PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria, Feb 7 (Reuters) Ransom-seeking Nigerian gunmen have freed a British engineer they abducted last month in the Niger Delta oil city of Port Harcourt on health grounds, police said today.

An American engineer and a Nigerian driver who were snatched on January 23 along with the Briton on their way to work, and are still being held by the gunmen, could be released soon, security sources said.

''The Briton was released this morning in Port Harcourt,'' Rivers state police commissioner Felix Ogbaudu told Reuters.

Security sources said the Briton, who was suffering from stomach cramps would be evacuated for medical treatment, adding that the release of the American was also imminent.

''Negotiators were confident that the American would be freed soon, possibly tonight,'' one security source said.

The pair were working for local construction firm Pivot Engineering in Port Harcourt, the main city of Africa's oil heartland, when they were kidnapped.

Violence surged in the Niger Delta last year, and has intensified since January. At least 29 foreigners are being held by different armed groups across the lawless delta.

Thousands of foreigners have left the delta in the past year as attacks and kidnappings have become almost a daily occurrence, and some industry executives see the region descending into anarchy as landmark elections approach in April.

A fifth of oil production capacity from Nigeria, the world's eighth-biggest exporter of crude, has been shut down for a year because of militant attacks on oil facilities.

REUTERS BDP BST0015