Reuters) Seven foreign hostages kidnapped last month by a Nigerian Islamist group from a construction company compound have been killed, the Italian and Greek foreign ministries said on Sunday.
The al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansaru announced on Saturday that it had killed the hostages seized on February 7 in the northern state of Bauchi because of attempts by Nigerian and British forces
to free them.
It published grainy photos purporting to show the bodies of a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers snatched from the Lebanese firm Setraco’s premises.
Foreign governments had not been able to confirm the killings until Sunday. Italy and Greece denied that any attempt to rescue them had been made by any of the governments involved. Nigeria had no confirmation of the killings.
“Our checks conducted in coordination with the other countries concerned lead us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true,” an Italian Foreign Ministry statement said.
“There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages by any of the governments concerned,” it said, adding that the president had sent his condolences to the Italian’s family.
The British foreign office named the British hostage as Brendan Vaughan. An intelligence source in Abuja named the Italian as Silvano Trevisan, adding that he had been suffering from hypertension and heart problems.
Security has become a top concern for oil and infrastructure companies across the region since gunmen loyal to al Qaeda’s North African franchise stormed an Algerian natural gas plant in January. Up to 37 foreigners died during an attempted rescue mission by the Algerian armed forces./(Reuters)