BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) — A little-known Islamic extremist group claimed responsibility Monday for the kidnapping of seven foreign workers from northern Nigeria, threatening their safety if anyone tried to intervene and free them.
The group that calls itself Ansaru issued a short statement, obtained by The Associated Press, in which it said its fighters kidnapped the foreigners Saturday night from a construction company's camp at Jama'are, a town about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi state.
Authorities said those kidnapped include one British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino, all employees of a Lebanese construction company called Setraco.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," has launched a guerrilla campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.
[...] the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company's compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, in a statement issued Monday through his office, condemned the attack and said he ordered security agencies to "take all necessary action" to locate and rescue the abducted construction workers.
In November, Britain's interior ministry announced that a parliamentary order that makes membership in or support of Ansaru a criminal offense.
The group that calls itself Ansaru issued a short statement, obtained by The Associated Press, in which it said its fighters kidnapped the foreigners Saturday night from a construction company's camp at Jama'are, a town about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Bauchi, the capital of Bauchi state.
Authorities said those kidnapped include one British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino, all employees of a Lebanese construction company called Setraco.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," has launched a guerrilla campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.
[...] the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company's compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, in a statement issued Monday through his office, condemned the attack and said he ordered security agencies to "take all necessary action" to locate and rescue the abducted construction workers.
In November, Britain's interior ministry announced that a parliamentary order that makes membership in or support of Ansaru a criminal offense.
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