Gunmen have seized three Croatian workers in Nigeria's southern oil region.
The men were abducted late yesterday in the region's main city of Port Harcourt, a Rivers State police spokeswoman said.
Scores of foreign workers have been kidnapped in the Niger Delta region since January in a dramatic rise of violence across the swampy southern area where Nigeria's crude is pumped.
Over a year of attacks have cut nearly a quarter of Nigeria's daily output, helping to send crude prices near historical highs in international markets.
Analysts say politicians are arming thugs to intimidate opponents before April elections, helping fuel the weeks of violence across the Niger Delta.
Despite the vast energy stores lying beneath their lands, most of the region's people are mired in deep poverty and abductions for ransom have become common.
Hostages are generally released unharmed, although casualties sometimes occur during gun battles between the hostage-takers and the military forces that patrol the vast region of swamps and creeks.
AP