Gunmen kidnap Briton, Italian in Kebbi

Gunmen have kidnapped two foreign engineers in Kebbi, the commissioner of the police in the state have said.

State police commissioner, Adamu Hassan, told the British Broadcasting Corporation that a British man and his Italian colleague were abducted from their lodgings on Thursday evening.

A Nigerian neighbour, who came to help, was shot and is in hospital.

The BBC correspondent in Birnin Kebbi city, where the raid took place, said kidnappings for ransom were uncommon in the North-west of Nigeria.

It is common in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta where expatriates are often targeted for kidnapping.

Our reporter said the victims were working for B Stabilini, an Italian construction firm based in Abuja.

During the incident on Thursday evening, another Italian employee managed to escape by scaling a fence.

“The kidnappers have not established any contact with us and have so far not demanded for any ransom,” Africa France Pressee quotes Hassan as saying.

He said immediately after the incident, all routes out of the state were blocked by the security forces.

The workers were involved in the construction of the state headquarters for the Central Bank of Nigeria in Birnin Kebbi.