The main militant group in the oil-producing Niger Delta said on Sunday it had released around 19 Nigerian oil workers kidnapped last month but was still holding two Britons and a Ukrainian.
"The Nigerian hostages rescued from pirates by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) have been released in Rivers state," MEND said in an e-mailed statement. "Due to the location where the expatriates were kept for their safety, they cannot be released at this time because of security concerns," the group said.
Two Britons, two South Africans and a Ukrainian were kidnapped from an oil supply vessel, the H.D. Blue Ocean, after it was hijacked on September 9 at the entrance of the Sambreiro River in the delta, a vast network of mangrove swamps.
MEND said a few days later it had rescued the hostages along with 22 Nigerians but that they had become trapped by fighting after the army attacked one of the militant group's camps.
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