LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian militants Tuesday promised for the second time in 10 days to release a British oil worker held hostage in the Niger Delta for the past nine months.
"Mr. Matthew Maguire will be leaving the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to reunite with his family within the next 24 hours," the main militant group said in an e-mailed statement.
MEND has announced several times in the past that it would release Maguire, most recently on June 1, but failed to follow through.
Maguire was among more than 20 people taken when their oil supply vessel was hijacked on September 9 in the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's largest oil and gas industry.
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(Reporting by Randy Fabi; Editing by Nick Tattersall)
