Posted by AP on
The U.K. said Friday it had closed the British Council and other government-sponsored activities, in Port Harcourt in Nigeria's southern oil region after sporadic gunfights entered a fifth day.
The U.K. said Friday it had closed the British Council and other government-sponsored activities, in Port Harcourt in Nigeria's southern oil region after sporadic gunfights entered a fifth day.
Earlier, it had advised all its nationals to leave three southern Nigeria states, including Rivers State.
Gunfire could be heard in the city, residents said, as gang members apparently continued their running battles in Port Harcourt.
Security forces have boosted their numbers in the streets and around some public buildings since fighting broke out Monday.
At least a half dozen people have died in the violence, police say, although local media put the toll much higher.
Also Friday, gunmen kidnapped a U.K. oil worker as he traveled to work in Nigeria's southern oil region, police said. The man was snatched from his car shortly after dawn, Rivers State Police Commissioner Felix Ogbaudu said.
Amid rising violence, some 200 people have been kidnapped this year in the restive southern region of Africa's biggest oil producer.