Six hostages in Nigeria were released today by two different groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta.
Five Chinese telecom workers were handed over by their captors to embassy officials at a waterfront in Rivers State capital, Port Harcourt. The other hostage, an Italian, was released to a state government official in neighbouring Bayelsa state.
Three foreign captives now remain in the hands of militants in southern Nigeria, where rising violence has cut output from the world's eighth largest oil exporter.
Growing violence in Africa's oil heartland has forced thousands of foreign oil workers to leave. Three people, including one Dutch oil worker, were killed on Tuesday when armed robbers fired on their boat near Port Harcourt.
Attacks on the oil industry, abductions of oil workers for ransom or for political motives and smuggling of stolen crude oil are common and have damaged oil exports.