Nigerian Police Probe Alleged Killing of Kidnapped Foreigners

The bombing of the Nigerian Police headquarters in Abuja in June 2011 sent shockwaves throughout the country. The authorities have blamed the attack on the Boko Haram group based in the north of the West African state., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Police probe alleged killing of kidnapped foreigners

SUNDAY, 10 MARCH 2013 21:12
FROM MADU ONUORAH, OGHOGHO OBAYUWANA, TERHEMBA DAKA (ABUJA) AND ALI GARBA (BAUCHI) WITH AGENCY REPORT NEWS
Nigerian Guardian

• Italy, Britain, others confirm death

TO ascertain the veracity of the claim, the Bauchi State police command has began investigation into the alleged killing of the seven expatriates kidnapped in Jama’are council area of the state.

Meanwhile, Italy, Britain and Greece said Sunday that the kidnapped foreign hostages in Nigeria have been killed.

“Our checks conducted in co-ordination with the other countries concerned lead us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

In the same vein, the nation’s defence and security sector officials are wary of speaking on the reported killing of the seven hostages.

In a related development, the Prelate of Methodist Church, His Eminence Sunday Ola Makinde has expressed concern over the rising insecurity in the country.

In the same vein, apparently disturbed by the spate of killings and kidnapping of construction workers in the country, the Federation of Construction Industry (FOCI) has called on the government to tackle the menace before the sub sector is grounded to a halt.

Last month seven expatriates’ workers of Setraco Nigeria Limited were abducted by unknown gunmen.

Later the Boko Haram Islamic group claimed responsibility for the kidnap of the expatriates, which included five Lebanese, one Briton and one Italian.

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) Hassan Mohammed Auyo said: “Police have no any evidence that the kidnap expatriates were killed, we are still investigating the matter, we are also investigating the genuineness of the information pasted on web allegedly by the group.”

Also, a top security source told journalists in Bauchi, “we heard about the killings of the expatriates as you heard about it , we are still enquiring to get the correct information, because we did not carry out any rescue operation either jointly or separately, we are still monitoring the situation”, he said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said all the hostages were “likely to have been killed” by their captors.

“This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the strongest terms, “he said, expressing his determination to work with the Nigerian authorities “to hold the perpetrators of this heinous act to account, and to combat the terrorism which so blights the lives of people in northern Nigeria and in the wider region.”

According to the Agence France Presse (AFP), the Italian foreign ministry in a statement branded it “a horrific act of terrorism for which there is no explanation except barbaric and blind violence.”

“No military intervention to free the hostages was ever attempted by the interested government,” it said, adding that the killings were “the aberrant expression of a hateful and intolerable fanaticism.”

The Greek foreign ministry also said the “available information suggests that the Greek citizen abducted in Nigeria alongside six nationals of other countries is dead.

“Based on the information we have, there was no rescue operation,” it added.

A Nigerian Islamist group, Asaru, said on Saturday it had killed the seven foreign hostages seized last month.

An official from the construction company, Setraco, told AFP he was aware of the report but could not confirm it.

According to SITE, “Al-Qabidun ‘Ala al-Jamr (Grippers of Embers) Media Foundation, an affiliate of the Sinam al-Islam Network, issued the statement in Arabic and English on March 9, 2013, and also provided screen captures of a forthcoming video showing the dead.

The defence officials feel not to be in a position to speak as the situation is still foggy. For now, no one knows the location of the hostages or their bodies. And if they are killed, this will be a direct slap on the nation’s defence and security intelligence services.