Nigerian gunmen kidnap 6 Russian smelter workers

LAGOS, June 3 (Reuters) Nigerian gunmen kidnapped six Russians and shot dead a local driver in a dawn attack on a residential compound of the world's top aluminium producer in the southeastern town of Ikot Abasi, authorities said today.

The abductions took to 30 the number of foreigners being held by different armed groups in the lawless southern delta, where the kidnapping of expatriates has become an almost daily occurrence.

Russia's ambassador to Nigeria, Igor Melikhov, said the six men, all Russians, were abducted by bandits who stormed the residential compound in two minivans.

A local official had said earlier that two of those kidnapped were South Africans.

The men were working at the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), which is controlled by the United Company RUSAL, a Russian firm and the world's largest aluminium producer.

''The bandits in two minivans entered (the) settlement and took six Russian citizens hostage,'' Melikhov told Russian television.

''A group of militants attacked a residential community of UC RUSAL's employees. Six people have been kidnapped. The driver, who worked for ALSCON, was shot dead,'' RUSAL spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina said in a statement.

Kurochkina said the company was taking steps to resolve the situation and free the hostages.

Security sources working for foreign firms in the southern delta said the militants blew up the apartment with explosives before kidnapping the six workers.

''We are very worried by events happening in Nigeria,'' Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin was quoted by RIA news agency as saying. ''Our embassy will provide all necessary support for the representatives of RUSAL who plan to arrive in Nigeria in the near future and join the rescue effort,'' he said.

VOLATILE DELTA RUSAL acquired a 77.5 per cent stake in the ailing ALSCON in 2005 and said in February it was working to restart the 193,000 tonnes a year smelter, located in Akwa Ibom state, by December. The company said it was investing 150 million dollar in the plant.

The Nigerian government retains a 15 per cent stake in the smelter and Germany's Ferrostaal AG holds 7.5 per cent.

Insecurity in the volatile delta region that produces all Nigeria's oil has forced thousands of foreign workers to flee and cut output by the world's eighth biggest exporter by a third.

The identity of the kidnappers in Akwa Ibom state and their demands were not immediately known.

In neighbouring Rivers state, gunmen disguised as riot police kidnapped four foreign workers yesterday from the residential compound of oil services giant Schlumberger in the oil city of Port Harcourt.

The violence in the southern delta is fuelled by a complex set of factors including poverty, lack of basic infrastructure, corruption among government officials and security forces and political thuggery.

Some armed groups have taken hostages to press for jobs, contracts and social services for their neglected communities, while others have made political demands. But most kidnappings in the delta are motivated by the hefty ransoms paid by foreign companies and the regional authorities.

Hostages are almost always treated well and freed unharmed after some days in captivity, though a few have been killed by Nigerian troops in clumsy rescue attempts.

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