German killed in Nigeria ambush
October 27, 2014
The two men were ambushed on Friday morning while they were driving in separate cars without security escorts near the town of Sagamu in Ogun state.
"About four armed men emerged from the bush…and attacked," police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi told news agency AFP on Monday. "A bullet hit one German and he was confirmed dead on arrival at the hospital, while the hoodlums abducted another German."
The construction company confirmed the incident. A spokeswoman for Julius Berger said the two men - an employee and a sub-contractor - were working for the firm in Nigeria, adding that the company was working with local authorities to find the hostage.
"Julius Berger is currently working in close cooperation with the Nigerian authorities to make certain the safe and prompt release of the person abducted ... (and) believes this to be an isolated criminal incident," she said.
Julius Berger International has around 600 employees in Nigeria, and is involved in several construction, gas, oil and infrastructure projects in the country.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for Friday's shooting.
The German Foreign Office said in a statement it was "dealing with the case," without providing further details.
Abductions targeting foreigners, who are often released after a ransom payment, are common in the prosperous southern part of Nigeria. Kidnappings also occur in the north, home to the militant Islamist group Boko Haram which kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls in April.
In July, a German national was kidnapped in the northeastern state of Adamawa. His whereabouts remain unknown.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is currently in Nigeria to meet with government officials and representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Among other things, they were to discuss the threat posed by Boko Haram in Nigeria.
nm/pfd (Reuters, AFP, dpa)