Nigeria Militants Move British Hostages After Raid

Nigeria's main militant group said on Sunday it had moved two British hostages to new hideouts in the oil-rich Niger Delta after a military raid on one of their camps.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has held the Britons for four months and said it will hold them until its suspected leader, Henry Okah, who is on trial for gun-running and treason, is released.

Soldiers from the navy and army raided a militant camp in the southerly Rivers state over the weekend in search of militant leaders, said Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for the joint military task force.

No one was hurt as the militants had fled the area.

"Intelligence has indicated that most kidnapping cases, sea piracy and armed robbery ... are being planned at a militant camp in Ajakaja in Rivers state," Musa said.

MEND said it had moved the British captives after the raid.

"As a precaution, we have moved the hostages deeper into the creeks in two different states," an emailed statement said.

Hundreds of foreigners have been seized in the Niger Delta, home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, since MEND launched a campaign of violence in early 2006 to push for what it considers to be a fairer share of oil profits.

MEND last week released photos of the two Britons, who have been held since they were kidnapped from an oil supply vessel on Sept. 9 -- far longer than most captives. MEND has named them as Robin Barry Hughes and Matthew John Maguire.

Most hostages taken in the Delta are released unharmed and relatively quickly after a ransom is paid.

Violence in the Delta has cut Nigeria's oil output by around a fifth in the past three years.