Lebanese national abducted in gunmen attack in Nigeria

A Lebanese national was abducted on Sunday after some gunmen who mounted a roadblock attacked his van in central Nigeria's Niger State, a security source told Xinhua Monday.

The Lebanese, a construction engineer simply identified as Rody, was kidnapped near Ekila village, some kilometers away from Minna, the Niger State capital, the security source who was not authorized to speak to the media on the development, said.

According to the source, the Lebanese was on his way to a construction site where his company, Enerco Nigeria Limited, was executing a construction project when the incident happened.

A local police officer on patrol duty in the area said a driver identified as Isaiah Entait, attached to the Lebanese, and two civil servants were taken along by the abductors.

The duo, identified as Salihu Mustapha and Hamidu Usman, worked with the Niger State ministry of works and infrastructural development, the police officer said, adding investigation had commenced on the whereabouts of the kidnappers.

According to local sources, the kidnappers were yet to make any contact since the incident on Sunday evening. The incident occurred on the same day Nigeria's secret police said it had arrested more than 20 kidnap kingpins across the West African country.

Kidnapping -- often for ransom -- is one of the major security problems in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country. Expatriates, whose firms can pay the ransom, are usually released by their abductors unhurt.