Briton Among Hostages in Nigerian Oilfield

Armed militants kidnapped seven oil workers, including one Briton, in the Niger Delta at the weekend, in the first major rebel assault on Nigeria's oil installations since an uneasy truce was brokered five months ago by the new president, Umaru Yar'Adua.

Gunmen in 30 high-powered boats attacked a supply vessel servicing Shell's offshore EA field which had been closed last year after a similar incident.

Shell security sources said the men - four Nigerians, one Croat, one Russian and one Briton - were taken along with their vessel after a three-hour gunfight with Nigerian troops. One person was reported injured. Other workers aboard the rig were evacuated.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which has reduced Nigerian oil production by one fifth since its campaign of violence and abductions began two years ago. Up to 200 oil workers, including dozens of expatriates, have been seized. The militants are demanding a fairer distribution of the oil wealth.

Few have been harmed and if past kidnappings are a guide, negotiations between MEND intermediaries and Shell officials for the payments of ransom will have begun, although the oil companies never admit that money changes hands.

The latest incident may have been prompted by the arrest of Henry Okah, a prominent MEND leader, at Luanda airport in Angola last month.

Kidnappers have changed tactics in recent weeks in response to the tougher security, targeting the families of oil workers, lawmakers and prominent Nigerians.