Heavily armed gunmen in speedboats kidnapped seven workers, including three foreigners, from an offshore Nigerian oilfield in a major setback to peace in the Niger Delta.
The raid on Saturday night was the first big attack on an oil facility in five months since the inauguration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who had started a peace process to address rebel demands for more regional autonomy in the oil-producing wetlands of southern Nigeria.
"Seven people were kidnapped from a supply vessel to the EA field. They are four Nigerians and three expats," said Olav Ljosne, a spokesman for Royal Dutch Shell, which operates the offshore field. He confirmed that the three foreigners were a Briton, a Croat and a Russian. All other workers have been evacuated from the facility, which has not produced any oil since an earlier militant attack in February 2006.