British girl kidnapped in Nigeria

Gunmen smashed in the windows of a car carrying a British girl to school Thursday and kidnapped the three-year-old in the first seizure of a foreign child in Nigeria's increasingly lawless oil region.

The British government called for the immediate release of Margaret Hill, who was taken from her car as it idled in Port Harcourt's heavy morning traffic. Nigerian community leaders were outraged.

"Taking an innocent child by force is a criminal act that should be roundly condemned by Nigerians," said Anabs Saraigbe, an influential chief of the ethnic Ijaw people who predominate in the region.

Over 200 foreigners have been kidnapped since militants stepped up their activities against the oil industry in late 2005 and more than 100 expatriates have been seized this year alone as criminal gangs took up the practice.

Kidnappers have focused mostly on foreign, male workers of international companies presumed to have the resources for ransom payments. Family acquaintances said Margaret's father works in the oil industry.

While two children of wealthy Nigerians have been seized in the restive Niger Delta in recent weeks, Margaret's seizure was the first of a foreign child. Both Nigerian children were released within days without injury.

Nigerian security forces were investigating the case, said Rivers state police Spokeswoman Irejua Barasua.

Acquaintances of Margaret's family said her father is a longtime resident of Nigeria who works for a firm performing contract work in Nigeria's oil industry, which is the continent's largest.

They also said he was the owner of a renowned Port Harcourt night spot popular with expatriate workers. The bar was shuttered Thursday and Margaret's family members couldn't be located by The Associated Press.

Criminal kidnappings have become common in the region. More than a dozen foreigners are currently in captivity, including five seized Wednesday from a Royal Dutch Shell oil rig.

Hostages are generally released unharmed after a ransom is paid _ often by state governments that control huge, unregulated security slush funds, with officials taking a cut, according to industry officials. At least two hostages have been killed in the crossfire when security forces crossed the kidnappers.

The government of new President Umaru Yar'Adua is trying to calm the oil region, where security began worsening with the emergence of a new militant group in late 2005.

The militants, whose bombings and kidnappings have cut Nigeria's normal oil output by about one quarter, say they're fighting to force the federal government to give the Niger Delta region a greater share of state oil money.

Despite four decades of oil production, the region remains among the poorest anywhere in Africa, a situation residents blame on official corruption and mismanagement of government money.

While the militants pioneered the practice of kidnapping, saying it was a pressure tactic used for leverage with the government, most kidnappings now are purely criminal, without a political element.

While the militants enjoy some measure of support for their political demands, Nigerians are generally dismayed by the hostage takings, which flourish partly in oil region because hostages can be hidden away in a vast maze of creeks and swamps.

"Kidnapping is a violation of the victim's fundamental human rights and can never be justified under any known law," said Onueze Okncha, former head of the Nigerian Bar Association. "It's going to cause problems for Nigeria people in ways we could never imagine."

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Associated Press writer Edward Harris in Lagos contributed to this report.