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| - Several people were seized on a busy road in Nigeria's restive oil region, police said Thursday, in an apparent ransom kidnapping. The incident happened on Wednesday evening at Ughelli, near the southern oil city of Warri in Delta state, they said. "Several persons were kidnapped but we don't know the exact number for now," state police spokesman Onome Onowakpoyeya told AFP. He said the kidnappers had made contact with a relative of one of the victims. Another police officer said five vehicles had been attacked and their occupants taken into the bush. One of them, a male who escaped from the kidnappers early Thursday, told police 12 had been abducted, he said. Kidnapping for ransom, targetting foreigners, oil workers, prominent Nigerians and their relations as well as travellers, is common in Nigeria, especially in the oil region. The victims are usually released unhurt after ransom payment but police rarely confirm such deals. str-joa/ri
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