Qaeda group claims kidnap of German in Nigeria

Al-Qaeda’s north Africa branch said Wednesday that it was holding another German engineer kidnapped in Nigeria two months ago, and that it wanted to swap him for a jailed Muslim woman, a private news agency in Mauritania said.

“We inform you that your compatriot Edgar Fritz Raupach is a prisoner of fighters from AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb),” the group said in a statement published by the ANI agency, demanding the release of a woman who it said had converted to Islam.

The woman, Felis Lowitz, whose Muslim name was given as Um Seiv Al-Islam-Al-Ansariya, was said to be detained in Germany where she was being “tortured”.

A video obtained by ANI and seen by AFP showed Raupach, his hands tied behind his back, surrounded by masked gunmen.

In the video he called on his “parents, friends and German public opinion” to convince Berlin to “bring an end to the torture of our Muslim sister”, adding that only her liberation will save his life.

AQIM warned that any attempt to rescue Raupach will lead to his death, as happened in the case of Italian engineer Franco Lamolinara and British colleague Chris McManus, killed earlier this month during a failed rescue bid by Nigerian forces.

Raupach, ANI said, is an engineer who was kidnapped in northern Nigeria on January 25.

Germany has confirmed one of its nationals has been kidnapped in northern Nigeria, and the German construction company Bilfinger Berger has said he is one of their employees.

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Breaking News:Boko Haram deny abducting Europeans killed failed rescue

Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram on Friday denied any involvement in the kidnapping of a Briton and Italian who were killed during a bid to rescue them in northwestern Sokoto city.

“We are not behind the hostage taking … which led to the military operation yesterday in Sokoto in which the hostages were killed,” said the group’s spokesman Abul Qaqa in a conference call with reporters.

“We have never been involved in hostage-taking and it’s not part of our style, and we never ask for ransom,” he said.

“We know how to settle our scores with anybody. Therefore the allegation that the kidnappers were members of our group is ridiculous.”

Nigeria’s government “had better get its facts straight and find the true identity of the kidnappers,” Qaqa added.

“They should not use us to mask their incompetence.”

The two expatriate workers were killed during a failed British-Nigerian military attempt to rescue them at a house in Nigeria’s far-northwestern city of Sokoto after nearly a year in captivity.

Britain said Italian engineer Francesco Molinara, 48, and his British colleague Chris McManus, 28, were shot by their captors before they could be rescued in the assault authorised by Prime Minister David Cameron.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said the kidnappers were from the Islamist group Boko Haram, which has waged a violent campaign of gun and explosives attacks mainly in the country’s northeast.

Witnesses in Sokoto however cast doubt on Jonathan’s assertion that the kidnappers were from the Islamist group.

They described an intense gun battle that lasted several hours and in which at least two hostage-takers were killed in the operation.

Diplomats have said some Boko Haram members have sought training abroad, but there had not been evidence of operational links with foreign groups.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has in recent years claimed kidnappings of foreign workers in countries including Niger, which borders Nigeria to the north, but never in Nigeria. Sokoto state borders Niger.

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German kidnapped in Nigeria

Abuja - Unknown gunmen abducted a German working for a construction company in a north Nigeria city where a radical Islamist sect last week killed 185 people, police said, underscoring the continuing unrest in the region. 

The kidnapping came as Nigeria's new top police official took command of the nation's ill-equipped and under-trained force, despite already being tarnished by allegations he allowed religious and ethnic violence that killed 1 000 people in 2001 to spiral out of control. Violence in north Nigeria continued on Thursday with the kidnapping of the German who worked for Dantata & Sawoe Construction Company Ltd. Local police spokesperson Magaji Musa Majiya said two gunmen in a sedan abducted the man while he was at a construction site. Telephone numbers advertised for the construction company did not work on Thursday. 

The German Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in Berlin, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that authorities had heard the report and that the ministry and the embassy were working together with all resources to learn more. Majiya said officers continue to investigate the abduction. No one claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, but it came after Boko Haram's co-ordinated attack last week in Kano that saw police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of the secret police bombed. Questionable management Meanwhile, Mohammed D Abubakar took over on Thursday as inspector general of the Nigeria Police Force. Abubakar, who previously served as police commissioner in Lagos, found himself appointed to the position after President Goodluck Jonathan forced Inspector General Hafiz Ringim to retire several months early on Wednesday. Criticism had grown over Ringim's management after a series of attacks by the sect known as Boko Haram, including one that saw the force's headquarters bombed in June. 

The final straw appeared to be the sect's co-ordinated assault last week in Kano that saw at least 185 people killed. Yet in 2001, Abubakar served as the top police official for Jos as the city edged closer to violence. Civil rights activists accused the commissioner of ignoring warning signs and their messages asking him to mediate the growing turmoil. On September 7 2001, the city erupted in violence, pitting Christians against Muslims in violence that has repeated itself in years since. 

The attacks killed about 1 000 people, Human Rights Watch said, violence that went unnoticed on the world stage as the September 11 terror attack happened soon after. Repositioning of the police Some of the violence could have been averted by the police - including one instance where officers turned away a Muslim man trying to find protection for a Christian later killed, Human Rights Watch said. Officers also did not deploy to stop attacks at the city's university. "The police commissioner kept saying everything was under control while the whole town was on fire," one local human rights activist told Human Rights Watch after the rioting. Abubakar was transferred to Abia state in November 2001. A later report by Plateau state officials on the incident called for him to be fired from the federal police. In a statement on Wednesday announcing Ringim's ouster, the presidency described Abubakar's appointment "as a first step towards the comprehensive re-organisation and repositioning of the Nigeria Police Force to make it more effective and capable of meeting emerging internal security challenges". 

Presidential spokesperson Reuben Abati said on Thursday that officials had no concerns over Abubakar's handling of the Jos riots, as he had proved himself over the last decade in other assignments. "The man was in fact promoted, so that means that the indictment had no effect whatsoever," Abati said. Zero tolerance It remains unclear what effect Abubakar's leadership will have on police, though he has been lauded for his anti-robbery campaigns in the time since the 2001 Jos violence. Nigeria's police force remains under-equipped and unable to investigate major terror attacks like those carried out by Boko Haram. Abubakar himself acknowledged on Thursday the challenges facing him, but said his administration "will not tolerate any act of indiscipline". "Crime and criminality, whatever name you give it whether it is Boko Haram or armed robbery, we shall fight crime in all its ramifications," he said. Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north. 

 The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, has now killed at least 262 people in 2012, more than half of the at least 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an Associated Press count. Meanwhile, police in Kano said that a bomb blast hit a motor park on Thursday in Sabon Gari, a largely Christian neighbourhood. Majiya said the blast caused no injuries

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NYSC Member Arrested for Kidnapping 67yr Old Woman

A serving member of the National Youth Service Corps, Kenneth Arabame, has been arrested by men of the State Security Service, SSS, Edo State unit, for the kidnap of a 67-year-old woman at the Ubiaja area of Edo State. 

 Kenneth, a graduate of Economics of the Ambrose Alli University, was among five suspected kidnappers paraded by the SSS on Thursday in Benin, the state capital. Others paraded were Oboh Ikhuoria, a Banking and Finance graduate of AAU, Jimoh Edobor, Isioma Jato and Amos Peters. 

According to the Edo State Director of the SSS, Bello Bakori, two other members of Kenneth’s gang are already serving different jail terms. Some of the suspects however denied involvement in the crime, claiming they were only invited to assist in collecting ransoms or rescuing kidnapped victims. 

 On his part, Kenneth claimed that a friend only invited him to help in pushing the vehicle that was, unfortunately, used in transporting a kidnapped victim. All the suspects will be charged to court soon.

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…2-year-old baby kidnapped, abandoned over persistent cry

Two suspected kidnappers belonging to a gang of four, who allegedly abducted their neighbour’s 2-year-old baby girl, Rejoice Aradu in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, demanding a ransom of N10 million had confessed to have abandoned her because she was seriously crying, the police command has said yesterday.


The Rivers State Commissioner of police, Suleiman Abba, in a report, made available to newsmen said the four arrested suspects, who conspired and abducted the 2-year-old girl on the 30th of November, on interrogation, told the police that they were forced to drop the baby not because the N10 million ransom demanded was paid but because the baby was persistently crying.



The Police Commissioner further explained that a team of Anti Robbery team arrested the gang of four suspects on 3rd November.

In a related development, the commissioner said two suspected kidnappers were also arrested in a separate incidents and three of their victims, one Chidi Agu and Chinedu Onwumereulor both residing at Psychiatric Hospital road Port Harcourt, who were kidnapped at the weekend, while they were returning from an end of year club meeting were also rescued Monday night following a tip off that led to the raiding of the hotloom’s hide out by the police.

He added that another victim who was hiding away from the hoodlums was also traced and rescued, pointing out that the suspects were making useful statements to the police and those efforts were being intensified toward arresting the fleeing member of the gang.

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Kidnappers abduct priest, demand N10m ransom

Parish Priest of Onitsha-Enugu Parish, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, Enugu State, Rev. Father Chijioke Amoke, has been kidnapped.

He was reportedly kidnapped at the gate of the Parish House on Wednesday by a gang of hoodlums, who also shot dead a police officer in their escape bid. The kidnappers have since contacted their victim’s associate demanding N10 million ransom.

Narrating the incident, Rev. Fr. Simon Ukwueze told NESWMEN that his colleague was abducted while trying to enter his house on the fateful day.

According to him, Amoke was honking his horn at the gate to enter the Parish house when suddenly a black jeep emerged and started shooting indiscriminately into the air.

He disclosed that parishioners, who tried to raise alarm, were chased away by the kidnappers who threatened to shoot them if they made any noise.

Ukwueze said the kidnappers took the priest away in their car to an unknown destination, adding that on Thursday, the kidnappers, who claimed to be university graduates, reached him (Ukwueze) on his cell-phone to demand N10 million ransom.

According to Ukwueze, the hoodlums warned that if the amount was not brought, they would kill their victim.

“Since then, they have been calling intermittently, threatening to kill Father Amoke if I did not provide the ransom. But I told them the stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference on kidnap of a cleric is that no ransom should be paid and the diocese has no provision for ransom,” he said.

Family home of the abducted priest and her sister said she had no information as to what the kidnappers were demanding, but confirmed that her brother was kidnapped. Fr. Amoke is the 12th Catholic Priest to be kidnapped since the advent of kidnapping in the country.

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10-year-old Girl Locked in Freezer By Kidnapper

Mother luck snatched a ten -year-old girl from the jaws of death after she was locked up in a fridge by her captor to await night fall before she is slaughtered for ritual.

Kenneth Uba, a wholesale rice seller at the popular Marian Market in Calabar the Cross River State capital, southsouth Nigeria on Tuesday allegedly lured the little girl who was hawking banana into his building site at 2, Obot Close, State Housing Calabar.

A source at 2, Obot Close told P.M.NNEWS that Kenneth, who along with others was working on his storey building which looks like a warehouse, lured the girl into the premises on the pretext that he wanted to buy banana.

“When the girl entered the premises he quickly locked the gate and grabbed the girl and bundled her into a disused refrigerator,” the source said.

The source, a lady who says she is fro m Edo State, said she was present at the time of the incident.

According to her, when the girl did not come out of the premises after a long period, the little boy with whom she was hawking banana began to cry.

“One man who was passing by asked the little boy why he was crying and he told the man that his sister with whom they were hawking went inside (pointing at the building) to sell banana and has since not come out,” the lady said.

The man, our source said knocked on the gate several times but Kenneth refused to open the gate.

This raised the man’s suspicion as to what might have happened to the girl, and he had to mobilise others who joined in knocking on the gate and eventually forced it open.

“When the gate was forced open, Kenneth was standing beside the fridge and barking like a dog while the girl’s banana basin was kept some metres away and when the people asked where the girl was, he said he did not know,”

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Police Kill Seven Alleged Kidnappers In Akwa Ibom

Investigations indicate that the suspected kidnappers were executed by the police in cold blood, raising concerns about the legal powers of the police to act as investigators, prosecutors, judges and implementers of judgments.

Our correspondent reports that thousands of residents in Eket metropolis thronged the police station to catch a glimpse of the remains of the suspects whose bodies were displayed in the premises.

Policemen at the station were having a tough time controlling the large crowd that converged on the station, creating a chaotic situation.Members of the public who could not gain access to the station took up all available spaces in the neighborhood to gaze at the lifeless bodies left in a pool of blood.

Two police sources in Eket confirmed the incident, and said that the men died in a routine operation against kidnappers.

But a police informant told our correspondent that, contrary to the official police version, the suspects were assembled from different locations and executed in Eket Police Division.

“It is shocking and cruel that the police would execute people without properly handing them over for prosecution, and then create a mindless exhibition of their bodies,” said a human rights lawyer in Akwa Ibom.

He added that, unless citizens recognized the dangers of such jungle justice, the police could easily kill innocent people by tagging them kidnappers.

SaharaReporters could not reach Onyeka Orji, the police spokesman in Akwa Ibom, for comments. We made several calls to his cell phone, but he never responded.

The Eket area has been plagued by kidnap and robbery activities in recent times. Over the weekend, a security team freed two captains of vessels at the Qua Iboe oil fields.

Our correspondent spoke to numerous members of the public who came out to view the bodies of the alleged kidnappers.

Some of the witnesses applauded the police for smashing the kidnap syndicate which had terrorized the area, but others condemned the act of executing suspected criminals and lying that they died in a cross-fire. “The state should have prosecuted them since the law recommends death sentence for kidnapping,” said one of the witnesses.

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19 Years Old Girl Arrested For Kidnapping

A 19-year-old girl, Miss Tina Enebere, is now cooling her heels in police custody for allegedly kidnapping five-year-old Gift Agbasoga and his three-year-old younger brother, Emmanuel Agbasoga. NEWSMEM  investigation revealed that Miss Enebere stole the two brothers from Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Orsu Obodo, Oguta local council area of Imo State. 

Luck, however, ran out on the teenage kidnapper when she tried ferrying her victims across Oguta Lake in a speed boat without Gift, who started crying profusely to be taken along. “The young boy’s pathetic cry attracted the attention of commercial motorcycle operators at the scene. They innocently stopped the girl from crossing the lake without getting to know the true story,” a villager told NEWSMEN.

The villager said the girl claimed that she was taking the boy to his father but when the motorcyclists contacted the parent, Mr. Chinonso Agbasoga, he denied knowledge of any such arrangement. Agbasoga thanked God for miraculously intervening in the near mishap, stressing that it would have been double tragedy, having lost his wife earlier. 

Reacting to the incident, the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Ernest Muforo, wondered why such a young girl would conceive such a dastardly act, adding that only a forthnight ago, some hoodlums attempted to kidnap a six-year-old boy, Onyedika Ekegha, also from Orsu Obodo.

The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Linus Nwaiwu, a deputy superintendent of police, DSP, decried the rising cases of child theft in the state, pointing out that the law would take its course, if and when the perpetrators were arrested.

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Man Held For Kidnap Attempt Of Twins

A 35-year-old man, Victor Joshua, has been remanded in prison custody by an Ebute-Metta magistrate’s court sitting at Oyingbo, Lagos State, southwest, Nigeria, for alleged attempted kidnap. 

Victor, who hails from Cross River State, southsouth Nigeria, and claimed to be a newspaper vendor in Ikorodu, had attempted to kidnap a set of female twins who are two and half years old in front of their house at Okeriya, Ikorodu, Lagos, in the morning of 12 September, 2011. 

The parents of the twins are Mr. and Mrs. Badmus Taoheed. It was gathered that the twins were rescued by neighbours, who accosted the suspected kidnapper, who had already carried one on his shoulder and held the other by the hand. Joshua lied that he was a friend of the father and was taking them to him. 

The suspecting neighbours called the twins’ father on phone and he denied sending anyone to bring the children. Victor was arrested and taken to court. He was arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit felony to wit: kidnapping and unlawful attempt to kidnap. 

The offences, according to the prosecuting police officer, Mr. Innocent Effiong, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, are punishable under Sections 227 and 365 of the Criminal Code Cap. C 17 Vol. 2, Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge. The presiding magistrate, Mrs. C. T. Adesola-Ikpatt, admitted him to bail in the sum of N200,000, with two credible and reliable sureties. The sureties, she also ordered, must show to the court tax clearance certificate for the last two years, indicate their means of livelihood and must be resident within the magisterial district. 

She adjourned the case till 9 November, 2011, for mention, while a remand warrant was issued against the suspected kidnapper as he could not meet the bail condition before the court adjourned sitting.

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6-Year Old Girl Foils Kidnap Attempt

An attempt by a four-man kidnapping gang to abduct a 6-year old girl has been foiled by the victim herself and residents of Lekki in Eti-Osa area of Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria. The four men were caught and handed over to the police at Ilasan Police Division who arraigned them before the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court on a two-count charge of felony to wit, attempt to kidnap. The incident occurred at Baale Street, Alpha Beach, Lekki, Eti-Osa in Lagos.

The police alleged that on 9 September, 2011, at about 1300hrs, the four accused identified as Ernest Agbonnowovo, 24, Uwem Essien, 24, Henry Ekong, 25 and Tony Bassey attempted to kidnap Miriam Abduraman, a 6-year old girl, by allegedly approaching her to direct them to an unknown street in the area. Before the little girl could realise what was happening, one of them allegedly held her hand and took her away. But Miriam was said to have shouted which attracted her mother and neigbours. 

Sensing that the game was up for them, the men attempted to escape. The residents and youths of the area pursued and caught up with them and dragged them to the Baale’s palace who contacted the police. The police came and took them away and detained them at Ilassan division. During interrogation, they allegedly denied attempting to kidnap the girl, but that they only asked her to direct them to a street which they could not mention as none of them lived in the area. After investigation, the accused were charged to court for attempted kidnapping. 

The offence, according to prosecutor Inspector Nwosu George, is punishable under Section 516 and 509 of the Criminal Code, cap. C17, vol. ii, laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2003. The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and the presiding magistrate Mr. B. A. Sonuga who stood in for Magistrate A. M. Alli Balogun admitted them to bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum. He adjourned the matter till 20 September, 2011 for mention. All the accused person were remanded in Ikoyi Prisons when they could not perfect their bail conditions.

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Mikel Obi expressed gratitude over father's rescue in Kano

The father of Chelsea and Nigeria star John Mikel Obi was Monday found alive in Kano State. Michael Obi was last seen on 12 August in the city of Jos, where his car was found last Wednesday.

Obi Senior told the BBC that he had been kidnapped in Jos before being transferred to Kano.

“I am very stressed,” he said.

His abductors are now in police custody in the northern Nigerian city.

The BBC’s Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai says Michael Obi’s face shows signs of the beatings that he says he endured during his ordeal.

During the time of his father’s disappearance, Mikel Obi continued playing for Chelsea – starting matches against both Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion.

“I wouldn’t want to let the club down and if I didn’t play that game I think my mum would be very sad,” the 24-year-old said after playing against Stoke.

On Friday, Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas hailed the “amazing mental toughness” shown by the midfielder in the wake of his father’s kidnapping.

Police spokesman Olusola Amore told The Associated Press that detectives found Michael Obi in Kano. Amore said police arrested those suspected in the kidnapping.

Michael Obi was kidnapped on Aug. 12 while on his way home from work in the central Nigerian city of Jos.

Kidnappings for ransom regularly occur in Nigeria, though typically in its east and oil-rich southern delta.

Nigeria, an oil-rich country of 150 million people, is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. Plateau state, in Nigeria’s fertile central belt, has seen thousands die in recent years in religious and ethnic violence rooted largely in political and economic issues.

Kidnappings in Plateau state are a rarity when compared to Nigeria’s oil-producing southern delta, where militants and criminal gangs often kidnap foreigners for ransom. Middle class Nigerian families also increasingly find themselves targeted in the country’s East as well.

It isn’t the first time a football player’s family has been targeted in Nigeria. In 2008, gunmen abducted the younger brother of Everton defender Joseph Yobo as he left a nightclub in Port Harcourt, the delta’s largest city.

The brother was released unharmed about two weeks later, though it was unclear if a ransom had been paid. Enyimba Chairman, Felix Anyansi-Agwu was equally kidnapped and released. Mother of former NFF President, Sani Lulu-Abdullahi was also kidnapped and released.

Michael Obi’s abduction came after a Forbes magazine survey in June listed Mikel as the seventh highest-paid African player in Europe. The magazine listed Mikel’s salary as $5.8 million a year.

Mikel thanks all!

Super Eagles midfielder, John Mikel Obi has spoken of his relief after hearing that his father, Michael Obi had been found in Kano.

And in a quick reaction to the cheery news from Nigeria, Mikel’s management company confirmed that the Chelsea man had contacted his family to share in the joy of their father’s release.

Mikel has also expressed his gratitude to everyone who supported his family during the trying times.

Earlier today(yesterday) Michael Obi called his family to advise them that he had been released by his abductors,” Sport Entertainment & Media Group (SEM) said in a statement.

“SEM have waited until now to release this information, to ensure that Michael was safe.

“John Obi Mikel would like to thank everyone in Nigeria, his family and friends, Chelsea FC and their fans and his agents for their total support during this terrible time.”

NFF rejoices

The Nigeria Football Federation Monday said the release of Mikel’s father came as a great relief to both the Obi family and the NFF.

In reaction to the news last night, chief media officer of the federation, Ademola Olajire said, “we are very very happy over this development. It is a sign of good things to come as we prepare for the crucial 2012 CAN qualifier against Madagascar.

It is good for the psyche of the boy and the entire team. We are happy,” Olajire said.

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Akiefa’s wife escapes as kidnapper dozes

A kidnapper, who was drafted to keep watch over Mrs. Akiefa, wife of a Niger-Delta activist, Mr. Frank Akiefa, abducted last Saturday and kept in their den at Orogun community near Ughelli, Delta State, fell into deep sleep, after eating the snacks bought for the victim by one of his colleagues.

The woman, who observed that her abductor had fallen asleep, scaled the window of the makeshift detention camp and escaped.

Vanguard learnt that his fellow kidnappers, who had already made a request for ransom were dumbfounded when they came back to find that the woman had escaped while their colleague-in-arms slept.

“It was nothing short of a miracle by the Almighty God,” a former militant told Vanguard in Warri, adding, “one of the kidnappers guarding her actually went to buy gala for the woman to eat. When he brought it, the woman changed her mind and the boy ate the gala and drank the water.

“Few minutes after eating the snacks and drinking water, he fell asleep and the woman thought he was pretending. But, behold, he started snoring deeply.

“Without wasting time, the victim knew there was a supernatural power at work and could not wait a minute longer. She jumped through the window and escaped.”

Mr. Akiefa confirmed that his wife was actually kidnapped, but that she had escaped from the kidnappers’ den.

Source:vanguardngr

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Kidnappers demand N20 million for Mikel obi’s father

Mikel Obi's Father

The police has announced that kidnappers who abducted the father of John Obi Mikel contacted his family on Wednesday requesting $130,000 (N20 million) ransom for his release.

Police were contacted on Friday after Mikel’s father, Michael, who runs a transport company, failed to return to his home in Jos.

Apev Jacob, the Plateau State Police Public Relations Officer, said they had found his father’s car abandoned but did not disclose the location. He also did not give further details on how ransom negotiations were progressing and Mikel’s family declined to comment.

Mikel, who plays for English football club, Chelsea, had pleaded for the release of his father.

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Nigeria "al Qaeda" hostage video being checked

 A video which appears to show a Briton and his Italian colleague who were kidnapped in May in northern Nigeria is being checked for authenticity by foreign ministries, after the hostages said they were being held by al Qaeda.

The one-minute video shows hostages blindfolded and on their knees, while three armed men stand behind them, their faces hidden by turbans, according to the AFP news agency, which was sent the video in Ivory Coast.

It was not clear when, or where the film was made and it could not be independently verified.

"We can confirm that two people, including a British national, were kidnapped in Nigeria on 12 May," a Foreign Office statement said. "A video has been released allegedly showing the hostages and officials are urgently checking its authenticity."

The Italian foreign ministry also put a statement on its website saying it was evaluating the video.

Al Qaeda's north African wing, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), operates in neighbouring Niger and has kidnapped foreign workers there but this would be the first such incident in Nigeria.

Countries in Africa's Sahel-Sahara region have stepped up efforts to counter an increased threat from gunmen linked to al Qaeda, who frequently cooperate with and operate alongside rebels, bandits and traffickers in the largely desert zone.

If the kidnappers were linked to al Qaeda it would be a significant escalation in the security threat in Africa's most populous nation, scene of attacks in recent months by the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram.

Security experts and diplomats had believed the two men were seized by local criminals. They said it was not yet clear if the abductors were al Qaeda members but did not rule it out due to the dangers in the surrounding region.

NEW TERRITORY

"It is certainly feasible that the men have been sold to AQIM/al Qaeda, although they are not likely to have been the original kidnappers," one security expert based in Nigeria said.

A western diplomat told Reuters the abduction was escalated to "the highest level" by the British and Italian foreign ministries some weeks ago, an indication that they were aware of the seriousness of the kidnappers.

The two men were working for a construction company and were seized from their accommodation in the capital of Kebbi state, near Nigeria's northwestern borders with Niger and Benin.

"We are working to secure the hostages' safe and swift release. We ask those holding the two men to show compassion and release them, enabling them to rejoin their families," the British Foreign Office statement said.

Hundreds of oil workers have been kidnapped in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta hundreds of kilometres away in the southeast, but such attacks are relatively rare in the north.

Boko Haram, which translates roughly into "Western education is sinful," has claimed responsibility for almost daily shootings and attacks with homemade bombs in remote northeast Nigeria in recent months.

Two people were shot dead and two others were wounded by a bomb blast on Thursday, in the latest attack by members of Boko Haram, a military Joint Task Force said.

The group, which wants sharia (Islamic law) more widely applied across Nigeria, has killed hundreds of people this year.

Intelligence officials have said there is evidence to suggest some Boko Haram members have trained in Niger but the group has an ill-defined command structure, a variety of people who say speak on its behalf, and an unknown number of followers.


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