Militants Release Royal Dutch/Shell Hostages

Royal Dutch/Shell said on Friday that 12 of its Nigerian oil workers abducted by militants in the Niger Delta have been released.

A spokesman for Shell said he had no immediate details and had not been directly in contact with the freed workers, whose captors had demanded compensation for a 10-year-old oil spill in their area.

Naval sources said the captives were freed after the navy threatened to intervene militarily. The 12 were seized on Thursday by youths from Arhavwarien community in Ugheli South Local Council in southern Delta State, on their way to repair a leaking pipeline in a neighboring village.

The militants said they wanted compensation of $1.5 million for a 1989 oil spill.