21 workers, most foreign, are kidnapped

At least 21 workers, most of them foreigners, were kidnapped in attacks in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region, and a Nigerian soldier was killed in one of the incidents, officials and witnesses said. Eight foreigners and a Nigerian driver were later freed.

The main militant group in the region claimed responsibility for one of the attacks, on a ship anchored off Port Harcourt. It later said it had released the eight workers kidnapped there.

It denied seizing the other hostages or killing the soldier. Maj. Sagir Musa, spokesman for a joint security task force in the region, said the Nigerian soldier was killed in an attack on a power station.