Nigerian militants have released two Americans and one Briton after holding them for more than five weeks in captivity.
The militant group, which is fighting for control of revenue from the country's oil-rich southern delta, threatened to continue attacks on installations that have cut Nigerian oil supplies by 20 per cent and driven up the price of oil worldwide.
But a spokesman for the southern Delta state government said Americans Cody Oswalt and Russell Spell and Briton John Hudspith were released just before dawn, are all in good health, and are with the local governor.
The militants took nine foreign oil workers hostage on the 18th of February from a barge owned by Houston-based oil services company Willbros Group that was laying pipeline in the delta for Royal Dutch Shell.
The group released six of the captives after 12 days.
The new militant group has targeted the oil industry in the world's eighth-largest producer of crude and the fifth largest supplier to the United States, blowing up oil installations and cutting production by 20 per cent, sending prices on international markets to $64 today.
AP