LAGOS, June 3: Nigerian gunmen abducted on Sunday two Filipinos and six Russians in separate raids, one of which also left a driver dead, in the latest in a spate of kidnappings in the country's oil-rich south.

“Early this morning, gunmen burst into the compound on two minibuses near the ALSCON factory and kidnapped six factory employees, Russian citizens,” Russia's ambassador to Nigeria, Igor Melikhov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

“A Nigerian driver was shot dead” in the raid in the southern state of Akwa Ibom, he told fellow agency ITAR-TASS. “One can say the kidnapping was most probably carried out for a ransom.” Later in the day in a neighbouring state, Rivers, gunmen abducted two Filipino oil workers from a bar in Onne, an industry source said.

There was no immediate confirmation from Rivers State police nor from their employer West Africa Offshore, a drilling company based in Port Harcourt.

The Russian ambassador demanded that the Nigerian authorities “take urgent measures to obtain the liberation of the (Russian) citizens.”—AFP