Britons among kidnapped oil workers

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The Foreign Office confirmed that four British workers were taken, but it was unable to give any details about the circumstances of their abduction.

Initial reports suggested only two Britons were in the group who were apparently taken by gunmen from a petroleum installation in Bayelsa in the south of the country.

The Foreign Office had been looking into those reports and a spokesman later said that four Britons had been kidnapped.

He said: "We can confirm there are four Britons among the group of ex-patriates."

But he could not give any more information about their abduction or confirm the group was taken by gunmen.

The Britons were among a group of oil workers kidnapped from a petroleum installation in Nigeria's southern crude oil-pumping region, according to a report.

Joshua Benemesia, leader of an unarmed government-funded group which helps provide security in the state, said the latest abduction took place in Bayelsa.

It was also reported that the men are believed to be working for a Nigerian oil services company.

They are said to have been kidnapped by gunmen while working in the south of the country, which is Africa's biggest oil producer and a top supplier of crude oil to the US and Iran.