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  • NIGERIA: British toddler Margaret Hill , kidnapped in Nigeria is freed

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NIGERIA: British toddler Margaret Hill , kidnapped in Nigeria is freed

A 3-year-old British girl is freed four days after being kidnapped in Nigeria. Her parents say she is well other than being covered by mosquito bites. A 3-year-old British girl was freed on Sunday (8 July, 2007) four days after being kidnapped in Nigeria. Unknown gunmen had snatched Margaret Hill from the car in which she was being driven to school while it was stuck in traffic on Thursday morning in Port Harcourt in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta. The girl's parents said she was in good health, but took her to the hospital to be examined because she was covered in mosquito bites. The Niger Delta is a vast malarial wetland. A government spokesman, Emma Okah, said no ransom had been paid to secure the girl's release. Okah said the release had taken place in the town of Ogbakiri in a rural area. The kidnappers released the girl at an agreed location where State Security Services (SSS) agents picked her up. The kidnappers got away and no arrests were made. Oluchi Hill said on Friday the kidnappers had called her, first demanding a swap between the daughter and the father, and later demanding a ransom. The amount demanded was unclear. The kidnappers had threatened to kill the girl. Abductions for ransom are common in the Niger Delta, although it is rare for children to be targeted. The Delta is home to the eighth-biggest oil industry in the world. About 200 expatriates have been abducted in the region since the start of 2006. At least 14 are still being held by different armed groups. Some of the kidnappings are carried out by militants seeking to press their demands for "resource control", but the vast majority of abductions are motivated by money. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has been behind most of the attacks on oil facilities that have cut Nigeria's output by over 20 percent, condemned the abduction of Margaret Hill and vowed to punish the kidnappers.

ITN Source | July 9, 2007Watch more videos from ITN Source

Tags:. .thursday. .july. .since. .security. .secure










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