Oil workers released unharmed

Three foreign oil workers were released unharmed on Friday after being abducted at gunpoint from a work bus in the oil city of Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria. After early reports that two employees of the Italian energy giant ENI SPA had been abducted, police later confirmed that three had been captured. Italian authorities confirmed that the three were released early on Friday morning, unharmed. Authorities declined to say whether a ransom had been paid. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks and kidnappings targeting foreign oil workers and oil companies in the Niger Delta. An armed militant movement, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), has made repeated attacks on oil installations causing a drop in Nigeria’s oil production by more than 20 percent. The group told reporters on Tuesday it would target oil workers with fresh attacks. However, MEND, which has taken oil workers hostage in the past, has not claimed responsibility for Thursday’s abduction.