Attackers have vacated an Agip oil pumping station in southern Nigeria and freed all hostages they were holding there after they were paid off by government, police said on Monday.
Agip, a unit of Italy's Eni, said 80 percent of production from the Ogbainbiri flow station had now been restored and it was expected to reach full regime within days. Agip said total oil production lost during the five-day siege was 170,000 barrels.
"They have vacated the facility and released the soldiers and the civilians. The soldiers have reposted more men there to take control of the facility," police commissioner Hafiz Ringim told Reuters from the Bayelsa state capital Yenagoa.
Asked what had prompted the attackers from a nearby village to leave the flow station, he said: "They have collected money from government."
Hostage takings are frequent in the Niger Delta and local activists say kidnappers are usually paid off to release their captives, fuelling the cycle of violence. However, authorities rarely admit that any money has changed hands.
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