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SEOUL: Nigerian militants Thursday kidnapped three South Korean executives, eight Filipino workers and a local driver after a gunfight at their construction site, the South Korean foreign ministry said.
Construction company officials in Seoul said the shootout lasted for 40 minutes but refused to confirm a report by Seoul's Yonhap news agency that several people were dead or injured.
"Three Koreans from Daewoo Engineering and Construction, eight Philippine workers and a Nigerian driver have been kidnapped by a group of armed insurgents," said foreign ministry spokesman Cho Hee-Yong.
They were seized at a power plant construction site near Port Harcourt in the Niger Delta area, he said.
"A gunfight erupted between the insurgents and security guards but there have been no reports of injuries involving South Korean workers as yet," the spokesman said.
A total of 1,755 workers including 148 Koreans were at the site which was guarded by Nigerian soldiers and security officials, Daewoo spokesman Huh Hyon said.
The kidnapped Koreans include Chung Tae-Young, 52-year-old managing director of Daewoo's overseas division who was on a business trip to the area, and two top Daewoo officials in Nigeria, he said.
Chung had twice led a Daewoo task force to secure the release of Koreans kidnapped previously in the district.
An emergency control centre staffed by Daewoo officials and South Korean diplomats in Nigeria has been set up to work for an early release of the hostages.
No group came forward immediately to claim the kidnapping in Africa's largest oil-producing nation, said the foreign ministry's Cho, and it was not known if a ransom would be demanded.
Rich in oil reserves, the Niger Delta area has been at the centre of a long confrontation between the government and a militant group known as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).
There have been frequent kidnappings of foreign workers in the area in recent years. Nine Daewoo workers were taken hostage in January but were later released unharmed.
MEND is responsible for at least one previous kidnapping of South Koreans, in which three Daewoo officials and two from South Korea's state-owned gas corporation were abducted in June last year. All five were later freed. - AFP/yy
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