Gunmen have kidnapped six workers including two foreigners at a Lebanese-owned construction site in northern Nigeria, and shot dead their security guard, police said on Sunday.
“There was an attack on the Setraco construction company site in Jama’are town (in Bauchi State) by unknown gunmen. Six company staff, including two expatriates, were kidnapped,” state police chief Mohammed Ladan said of the incident late Saturday.
“They killed the security guard at the site. We are still working to establish the nationalities of the two expatriates,” he told AFP.
The same gunmen had earlier attacked the prison and a police station in Jama’are, which lies about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the state capital Bauchi city, but were repelled, Ladan added.
There was a similar attack on Saturday by gunmen on a police station in Kafin Madaki town, about 40 kilometres from Bauchi city, triggering a shootout.
Setraco Nigeria, a construction and civil engineering company, is a subsidiary of Setraco International Holding group.
The Nigerian company, which was established in 1977, is currently working on expanding a major road in northern Nigeria.
Source: Vanguard
UPDATE: We Kidnapped Them - Ansaru
The group had claimed responsibility for previous attacks in Northern Nigeria.
A group known as Jama’atu Ansarul Musilimina Fi Biladis Sudan, popularly referred to Ansaru, has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s kidnap of seven foreign workers in Jama’are Town of Bauchi State
In a statement made available to journalists on Monday, the group said “By Allah’s grace, we have the custody of seven persons, which include Lebanese and their European counterparts working with Setraco,”.
They said the men were kidnapped because of the “transgressions done to the religion of Allah by European nations in many places such as Afghanistan and Mali.”
Gunmen in the early hours of Sunday stormed a compound housing Setraco expatriate staff in Jama’are where they killed a security guard and abducted one Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers.
The Ansaru, helpers in Arabic, group emerged in June last year; and in a video message posted to Youtube by their leader, Abu Usamatul Ansar, pledged to defend the interest of Islam and Muslims in Africa.
They had already claimed responsibility for the November 2012 attack on the office of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS Abuja where one person was reportedly killed and several prisoners freed.
The group also claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion that claimed the lives of two Mali bound soldiers on January 19, 2013 at Itape, Ekehi Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Source: Premium Times
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