Kidnap Radio

KANO, Nigeria — European diplomats said Sunday that seven foreign hostages kidnapped in northern Nigeria had been killed as claimed by Islamic extremists, the worst such foreign abduction violence to hit this turbulent West African nation in decades. Both Britain and Italy said all seven of those taken from northern Bauchi state on Feb. 16 were killed by the group known as Ansaru. Greece also confirmed one of its citizens was killed, while Lebanese authorities did not immediately comment.

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Gunmen attacked a camp for a construction company in rural northern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and the Philippines, authorities said Sunday, in the biggest kidnapping yet in a region under attack by Islamic extremists. The attack Saturday night happened in Jama’are, a town in Bauchi state. There, the gunmen first attacked a local prison, burning two police trucks, Bauchi state police spokesman Hassan Muhammed told The Associated Press.

ReutersU.S. airstrikes have destroyed an Islamic State-operated radio station in a remote part of eastern Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday. "Voice of the Caliphate" radio was destroyed by two U.S. airstrikes, according to a U.S. military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief media on the subject.

It’s like a high-stakes game of poker, except there’s no walking away from the table. That’s how Alan Bell describes what happens when a Canadian is kidnapped overseas and held for ransom. Bell is a former British special forces operative who has both kidnapped and helped rescue kidnap victims. In a recent interview, he talked about the dark and dangerous dance between negotiators and hostage-takers that takes place far more often than many Canadians may realize.

The alleged mastermind of a kidnapping near Toronto three years ago that left one man dead has been arrested and charged with homicide in China. Peel region police Insp. George Koekkoek says 46-year-old Chinese national Guo Wei Wu is being held in China after authorities there recognized him in an Interpol notice. Police allege Wu was behind a plot to kidnap and hold for ransom Xiu Jun (Johnny) Fei and Jiangou (Tony) Han, two men reported missing in Mississauga, Ont., in January 2011.

Filed under: Insurance, Weird & Wonderful

ALGIERS, Algeria — Islamist militants from Mali attacked a natural gas field partly operated by BP in southern Algeria early Wednesday, killing a security guard, according to local media, and kidnapping at least eight foreigners, an Algerian official said. Seven others were wounded in the attack, including two foreigners, added the state news agency. Ireland has announced that one of the hostages is Irish.