Briton 'kidnapped in Nigeria'

The Foreign Office is investigating reports that a Briton has been kidnapped in southern Nigeria.

The victim was said to have been taken hostage on Monday night 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.

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, but were beaten back by security forces.

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.

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