British worker 'kidnapped by five gunmen' in Nigeria

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The victim was said to have been taken hostage overnight by five gunmen in the oil city of Port Harcourt.

Reports form Nigeria said the person held was an expatriate former employee of the petrochemicals firm Indo Rama.

Hostages: Militants in the oil-rich region of the Niger Delta where a British worker has been kidnapped

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: 'We are urgently investigating the report.'

The incident came as trouble escalated in the oil rich West African country.

There were reports that militants had sabotaged a pipeline operated by the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell, in the south of the country.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it had used high explosives to destroy it.

Gunmen were also said to have attacked a Chevron Corporation oil platform early today, but were beaten back by security forces.

In recent days there have been battles between militants and Nigerian troops who have previously avoided confronting one another in the region's vast system of rivers and creeks.

At least nine militants and several members of the armed forces have been killed, along with civilians.

More than 200 foreigners have been taken hostage in the Niger Delta in the last two and a half years. They are usually released unharmed.