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7 Foreigners Kidnapped in Nigeria


Gunmen in northern Nigeria have kidnapped seven foreign workers and killed a security guard during an attack on the camp of a Lebanese-owned construction company.

Police say the gunmen stormed the Setraco company's site in the town of Jama'are in Bauchi State late Saturday before fleeing with the workers.

Authorities say the abduction victims include citizens of Britain, Italy and Greece and four Lebanese nationals.

Bauchi State Police spokesperson Hassan Muhammed Auyo says that around 9 p.m. Saturday night the same gunmen attacked a prison and police station in the area, but were repelled in both instances.

The group then moved to the Setraco camp for workers who are building a road in the area.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but the Islamist group Boko Haram is known to target police and prisons in northern Nigeria as part of its campaign to create an Islamic state.

Some locals however say the kidnapping could be the work of criminal gangs motivated by money and not extremism.

The kidnapping of foreign workers for ransom has long been a problem in Nigeria's south, but incidents of that taking place in the north have been relatively rare.
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