MAIDUGURI, Nigeria - Nigeria's main militant group in the oil-rich southern delta on Friday released a list of seven hostages it had taken from an attack on an offshore oil rig, with at least one name matching that of a Canadian believed to be held.
The Canadian on the list is Bob Croke, a St. John's, N.L, area resident, listed as working for a firm called PPI. He had earlier been identified as one of the hostages by a family member.
The seven men, who also include two U.S. workers, two French and two Indonesians, were abducted during an attack Monday on the rig 11 kilometres off Nigeria's coast.
In an email sent to journalists, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta described the men as being "in good health and (they) will be in our custody for a while."
"Our fighters (caused) extensive damage on this facility and attempted to set it ablaze as they were instructed to do," the email read.
The email said the two Indonesians were seized off a nearby support ship operated by contractor Century Energy Services Ltd. One of the abducted Frenchmen worked for Sodexo, a France-based catering company. The two U.S. citizens and the Frenchman were identified as working for contractor Transocean Ltd.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, also known by the acronym MEND, began a campaign of pipeline bombings and high-profile kidnappings in 2006. Militants in the delta, a region of winding creeks and mangroves, want more oil money to come to an area still gripped by abject poverty and pollution after more than 50 years of oil production.
Several MEND commanders took part of a government-sponsored amnesty deal last year to lay down their weapons, but a faction remained active. Most recently, MEND claimed responsibility for an Oct. 1 car bomb attack that struck Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens more.
The hostage list came from a new email address previously not associated with the militant group. The group apparently has been changing email addresses after Henry Okah, an alleged gunrunner long thought to be a MEND leader, was arrested in South Africa on terrorism charges stemming from the Oct. 1 attack.
In the email Friday, MEND also said it released three French workers and a Thai expatriate kidnapped Sept. 22 during an attack on an offshore rig operated by Addax Petroleum. The workers were released from captivity on Wednesday.
"Owing to their generally poor state of health, we were compelled to release them on humanitarian grounds," the statement read.
