Filipino hostage freed in Nigerian oil delta

ABUJA, Mar 9 (Reuters) A Filipino oil contractor abducted on February 6 in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta has been freed and handed back to his employers, police said today.

Gunmen seized the man on the road to the oil city of Port Harcourt and killed at least one of the Nigerian policemen who were escorting him.

The police commissioner of Rivers state, where Port Harcourt is located, said the man was freed yesterday. He did not have any details on the terms of his release.

Kidnappings for ransom are frequent in the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil industry. A Lebanese hostage was freed on Saturday for a ransom of 15 million naira.

Another seven expatriates are still missing after being abducted in the delta. Most kidnappings are for money although some armed groups have also seized foreigners to press political demands.

Two Italian oil workers kidnapped on December 7 are still in captivity as are one Filipina, one Frenchman and three Croats abducted in three separate incidents in February.

A wave of militant attacks on oil facilities a year ago forced the closure of a fifth of Nigeria's oil production.

Output has yet to recover.

Since then, raids on oil facilities, kidnappings, gun battles between militants and security forces, and violent armed robberies have multiplied. Thousands of foreign workers and their relatives have left the delta.

Poverty and the collapse of basic public services due to corruption in government fuel militancy and crime in the delta.

Reuters SY DS1331