Nairobi/Abuja - A British citizen has been kidnapped in Nigeria's restive Niger Delta province as a militant group said it would release two South Africans kidnapped among a group of 27 others.

A spokesman for the Nigerian military in the Niger Delta Lieutenant-Colonel Musa Sagir said that the unidentified Briton was kidnapped late on Monday evening, but gave out no further details.

The news came as the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), Nigeria's most prominent militant group, said it would release two South Africans captured along with 22 Nigerians, two Britons and another foreigner.

Nairobi/Abuja - A Nigerian militant group Monday said it had destroyed a major crude pipeline belonging to Shell as it continued with a wave of attacks in the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Jomo Gbomo, a spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said that engineers and fighters used explosives to destroy a Shell pipeline in Rivers State.

The report could not immediately be verified.

MEND on Sunday declared an "oil war" after Nigerian military forces attacked militant positions with gunboats and helicopters.

Nairobi/Abuja  - Nigerian militants who have declared an "oil war" Monday said they attacked and destroyed an oil flow station complex owned by Shell in the restive Niger Delta province.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said Sunday it had begun operation "Hurricane Barbarossa" after Nigerian military forces attacked militant positions with gunboats and helicopters.

Abuja - The Nigerian military said it had countered an offensive by the militant Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) in the restive Niger Delta province Saturday.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the militant group attacked troops deployed to provide security for oil installations and expatriate workers.

"The militants fled when they realized that they had provoked a superior force," he said.

Abuja  - The European Commission will spend 580 million euros (814 million dollars) on Nigeria's power sector in the next five years, European Union Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs, said in Abuja on Wednesday.

Piebalgs said the EU was committing to the projects because 20 per cent of the oil and 80 per cent of the gas produced in Nigeria goes to European countries.

"Energy has become the key issue for Nigeria's development," he said.

Abuja - An 84-year-old Nigerian man with 86 wives and 170 children has accepted a decree issued by Islamic authorities that he must divorce 82 of them, reports said Monday.

The BBC, quoting a local emir, reported that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar on Saturday agreed to the mass divorce.

Abubakar, a former teacher and preacher, faced the death penalty under Sharia law, which was reintroduced to the Muslim-majority Niger State, North-West Nigeria, in
2000.

While the death sentence was lifted, Abubakar still faced eviction from his home.