BBC News Africa
9 March 2013 Last updated at 18:38 GMT
Diplomats check reports of Nigeria hostages' deaths
Diplomats are investigating claims that seven foreign hostages seized last
month in Nigeria have been killed.
A statement posted on the internet from Nigerian militant group Ansaru said it
had killed the hostages.
The hostages - from Britain, Greece, Italy and Lebanon - were seized in the
northern state of Bauchi.
Ansaru, which emerged last year, is suspected of being an offshoot of the Boko
Haram Islamist network.
The message from Ansaru included photographs purporting to show a gunman
standing over at least one body, although these could not be verified.
The seven were seized in a raid from a construction site belonging to the
Setraco company. The raid also resulted in the death of a guard.
Ansaru said the hostages were killed because of a rescue attempt by British and
Nigerian forces. But British officials said they were not aware of any such
attempt.
Last year there was a failed bid by special forces to rescue a British and an
Italian hostage believed to be held by Ansaru. The pair were killed before they
could be rescued.
Ansaru said it had carried out the latest kidnapping in revenge for what it
called atrocities by European nations against Islam.
Campaign of violence
The Ansaru movement has been listed by the UK government as a "terrorist
organisation" aligned with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
The first attack for which it claimed responsibility was an attack on a police
station in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, in November 2012.
The group has warned it will target non-Muslims "in self-defence".
Extremist groups operating in the north of Nigeria have intensified a campaign
of violence in recent years.
Seven French nationals are still being held after they were kidnapped across
the border in Cameroon by gunmen believed to be members of Boko Haram.
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