The Greek, Italian, and British governments say they believe the seven hostages kidnapped in Nigeria have been killed. It follows an execution announcement from the Islamist Ansaru group, which allegedly posted pictures of the dead hostages online.
Those kidnapped included four Lebanese citizens and one citizen
each from Britain, Greece and Italy.
"This was an act of cold-blooded murder, which I condemn in the
strongest terms," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said
in a statement.
"It is with deep sadness that I must confirm that a British
construction worker...is likely to have been killed at the hands of
his captors, along with six other foreign nationals who we believe
were also tragically murdered," he added.
On Saturday, the Ansaru group announced on an Islamist website that
it had killed the men, after capturing them from a construction
site in Bauchi on February 16. The statement was accompanied with
screen shots of a video which allegedly showed the dead bodies.
In the attack, gunmen first assaulted a local prison and burned
police trucks, according to authorities. The attackers then blew up
a back fence at the construction company’s compound, killing a
guard in the process, witnesses and police told AP.
The group blamed the killings on a pledge by Nigerian President
Goodluck Jonathan to do “everything possible” to free the
hostages. It also said the kidnapping was in revenge for what it
called “atrocities by European nationals against Islam.”
Ansaru claimed the hostages were killed because of a failed
military rescue operation by British and Nigerian forces. However,
the Italian foreign ministry says that is not the case.
"There was never any military attempt to rescue the hostages by
any of the governments concerned," the foreign ministry said in
a statement.
It added that the group's actions "can have no explanation other
than blind and barbaric violence.”
The Greek foreign ministry has also made a public statement
regarding the situation, saying that it believes a Greek hostage
has been killed.
"The information we have shows that the Greek citizen is dead,"
it said in a statement. "The ministry has informed his
family."
Lebanese authorities have yet to comment on the situation.
Last year, Ansaru declared itself a splinter group of Boko Haram,
the north’s main Islamic terrorist group. Boko Haram is blamed for
at least 792 killings last year alone.
It’s the worst such foreign-abduction violence to hit Nigeria in
decades. Most kidnappings in the country’s north see foreigners
released after companies pay ransoms. However, the latest
kidnappings in the north have seen hostages killed by their captors
or in military raids to free them.