Meanwhile, Militants in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta have published details of seven foreign hostages kidnapped from an oil rig this week, saying they were in good health but would be in its custody "for a while".

The MEND detailed the names, organisation and nationalities of the hostages as reproduced below.
Name Employer Nationality
James Robertson------Transocean-----------USA
Jeffrey James-----------Transocean --------------USA
Patrick Weber-----------Transocean-----------French
Mignon Gilles---------Sodexo---------------France
Robert Croke-------------PPI --------------Canada
Robert Tampubolon----Century Energy Services Indonesia Ltd-----Century Bumi JV
Permana Nugraha --------Century Energy Services Indonesia Ltd-----Century Bumi JV


"The abduction of the seven expatriates from the shallow-water Okoro oilfield in
Akwa Ibom state was to prevent the Nigerian government from denying the attack on this facility," MEND said in an emailed statement.

It also said the two Americans and one of the Frenchmen were employees of Swiss-based Transocean, the second Frenchman worked for France's Sodexo, the Indonesians worked for Century Energy Ltd and the Canadian worked for local firm Petroleum Projects International (PPI).