Police on Sunday released 14 kidnapped oil workers in Niger Delta region. Gunmen seized the 14 workers earlier this month on a road between Omoku and Elele, around 50 km (30 miles) from Port Harcourt, Rivers state. The workers are employees of oil company Nestoil.


"We secured their release in batches. Five were released yesterday while seven were released in the early hours of today," said Nnamdi Omoni, spokesman for police in Rivers state. The remaining two had been released earlier.

"As a result of our pressure on the kidnappers our men had a shootout with them but none of the kidnappers was killed or arrested," he said, without giving further details. "No ransom was paid."