Seven foreign hostages kidnapped last month by a Nigerian terrorist group from a construction firm compound have been killed, the Italian and Greek Foreign Ministries said on Sunday, Reuters reported. Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansaru said on Saturday it had killed the hostages seized on February 7 because of attempts by Nigerian and British forces to free them. Alongside the statement they published grainy photos purporting to show the bodies of a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese workers abducted from the Lebanese firm Setraco. "Our checks conducted in co-ordination with the other countries concerned lead us to believe that the news of the killing of the hostages seized last month is true," an Italian Foreign Ministry statement said. Nigerian authorities continued to say on Sunday they still had no information on any such killing, after doubting the veracity of the Ansaru statement on Saturday.
