AFP

Port Harcourt, Nigeria, May 20: Suspected militants kidnapped three Indian petrochemical workers from their residence in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt on Saturday, the army said.   

The militants originally seized 10 workers, all employed by Indonesia's Indorama, but the military engaged them in a gunfight and rescued seven, the spokesman for the army in the region said.   

A Nigerian driver was killed in the incident.   

The militants invaded a block of flats occupied by Indorama with dynamite and heavy machine guns and took 10 workers.

"The joint task force responded to a distress call and rescued seven. They escaped with three," said spokesman Sagir Musa, adding that troops were still pursuing the abductors.   

Violence has surged in the world's eighth largest oil exporter since flawed elections last month, shutting down a third of the country's oil production.   

Indorama is majority owner of the Eleme petrochemical plant near Port Harcourt, which was privatised in December 2005.