Nigerian soldiers burned hundreds of slum houses located close to the compound of an Italian oil company where two foreign oil workers were kidnapped and their bodyguard killed overnight.
Residents said the soldiers stormed the waterside settlement around the compound of Saipem, a unit of Italian oil giant ENI, poured petrol over the houses and set fire to them.
At least two foreign oil workers, including one Italian, were kidnapped from a bar in the slum area on Thursday night, residents said. The gunmen who took them also shot and killed an army sergeant who was guarding them and injured another soldier.