#news Nigeria: 19 oil hostages released in military raid

LAGOS, Nigeria — A military raid freed 19 hostages held in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta Wednesday night, a negotiator said, striking a stunning blow to a resurgent militancy in a region vital to US oil supplies.

The negotiator said the operation freed seven expatriate workers kidnapped Nov. 8 from an oil rig working an offshore field for London-based Afren PLC. Another seven Nigerians hostages came from an attack carried out Sunday on an Exxon Mobil Corp. rig operating nearby. The origin of the remaining hostages remained unclear Wednesday night.

Others kidnapped included workers for construction company Julius Berger Nigeria PLC.

Those kidnapped from the Afren rig include two US workers, one Canadian, two French and two Indonesians.

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