South Nigerian kidnappers release toddler

A three-year-old British girl who was snatched at gunpoint on her way to school in southern Nigeria four days ago was released by her captors last night.

Her abductors had threatened to kill Margaret Hill but no ransom was paid for her release, according to her father Michael, who said his daughter's freedom had been secured by the intense pressure put on the kidnappers by state security forces.

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Mr Hill, 60, said: "She was in a bit of a trance when we got her but she is alright now. They kept her in the bush, in a straw hut or something like that and she is covered from head to toe in mosquito bites. I don't think she has had that much to eat either."

Oluchi Hill, her mother, speaking from the headquarters of the State Security Services in Port Harcourt, where she was reunited with her daughter, said: " I am very, very happy. She is OK but I want to proceed with her to hospital because she has a lot of mosquito bites."

Margaret, in a brief interview with Sky News, said she was "fine" and "OK".

She was kidnapped on Thursday morning as she travelled to school in Port Harcourt, capital of the oil-rich south. An armed gang of up to five men ambushed her car while it was moving slowly in heavy traffic.

They fired warning shots in the air while one of the kidnappers smashed a window with his rifle butt and then bundled Margaret out. The driver of the car was slashed with a knife as he tried to defend the three-year-old. Mrs Hill said the kidnappers called her about three hours after the incident and allowed her to speak to her child, but then told her to meet them in a town in Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta region.

She said they told her to bring her husband to swap with the baby, and that he had wanted to go but a local police commander told him not to.

The kidnappers then threatened to kill Margaret if Mr Hill did not come within three hours, her mother said. The kidnappers had also demanded money, although the amount was never revealed. Security services in Nigeria then launched an intensive search and negotiations which resulted in last night's release.

Mr Hill, from Murton, Co Durham, an oil industry consultant who works for the US firm Lone Star, said he would remain in the country.

"I do not have a problem with Nigeria, 99 per cent of the people here are good, it is the one per cent who are bad. In the Niger Delta about 50 per cent of the kidnappers are political activists and the rest armed gangs."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "delighted" and thanked those who worked to secure her release.

Margaret was the third child to be kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Nigeria in the last couple of weeks.

The first girl to be taken hostage was the daughter of a Nigerian businessman and a local state legislator's daughter was also kidnapped two weeks' ago. Both were released unharmed after ransom payments.

The Niger Delta is home to the eighth-biggest oil industry in the world.

About 200 expatriates have been abducted in the region since the start of 2006, of whom at least 14 are still being held by different armed groups.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which has been behind most of the attacks on oil facilities that have cut Nigeria's output by over 20 per cent, condemned the abduction of Margaret Hill and vowed to punish the kidnappers.

Timeline

* JULY 6

Margaret Hill kidnapped at gunpoint on her way to school at 7.30am.

Three hours later the kidnappers call her mother, Oluchi, demanding the girl's father take her place.

They threaten to kill her if her father, Michael, does not arrive at a specified location within three hours.

Police advise against the swap, fearing the kidnappers wanted another hostage.

* JULY 7

Inspector General Mike Okiro, the most senior policeman in Nigeria, flies to Post Harcourt to lead the investigation.

Nigerian president Umaru Yar'Adua vowed the child would be released unharmed.

* JULY 8

Police and diplomats conduct frantic round of talks with kidnappers.

Abductors agree to leave Margaret at a remote location. No ransom is paid and there are no arrests.