TerrorismNigerian Islamic militants execute seven Western hostages

Ansaru has announced the murders of seven western hostages // Source: kohsantepheapdaily.com.kh

Ansaru, a Nigerian Islamist militant group which is an off-shoot of Boko Haram, said it has killed seven hostages it captured in the northern Nigeria province of Bauchi last month. The hostages are from Italy, Britain, Greece, and Lebanon.

Ansaru made the announcement in an on-line statement. U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday that a British construction worker, named as Brendan Vaughan, was “likely to have been killed at the hands of his captors, along with six other foreign nationals”.

“This is an unforgivable act of pure, cold-blooded murder, for which there can be no excuse or justification,” he added.

The BBC reports that Ansaru’s online message included grainy pictures supposedly showing the bodies of the seven.

The militant group said they hostages were killed because of an attempt by British and Nigerian forces to rescue them. The government concerned, however, say there was no such attempt.

The British military said that British warplanes were recently flying in and out of Abuja airport as part of the effort to transport troops and supplies related to the French campaign in Mali, not as part of an effort to rescue the hostages.

The seven hostages worked for Setraco construction company.

Ansaru was formed in January 2012, and is listed by the U.K. government as a “terrorist organization” aligned with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Ansaru abducted French national Francis Colump in December, and killed two Nigerian soldiers in January.