Nigerian kidnappers free 3-year-old girl

By Estelle Shirbon

ABUJA (Reuters) - A 3-year-old British girl was freed on Sunday four days after being kidnapped in Nigeria, and her mother said the toddler was in good health except for mosquito bites.

Unknown gunmen had snatched Margaret Hill from the car in which she was being driven to school while it was stuck in traffic on Thursday morning in Port Harcourt in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta.

"I am very very happy," said Oluchi Hill, the girl's mother, speaking from the headquarters of the State Security Services (SSS) in Port Harcourt, where she was reunited with her daughter.

"She is OK but I want to proceed with her to hospital because she has a lot of mosquito bites," said Hill. The Niger Delta is a vast malarial wetland.

Margaret Hill could be heard laughing in the background while her mother was on the phone to Reuters. The toddler was playing with a Rivers State official who called her "jungle girl".

Emma Okah, a spokesman for Rivers State, said no ransom had been paid to secure the girl's release. Her mother had said on Friday the kidnappers had called demanding money.

Okah said the release had taken place in the town of Ogbakiri in a rural area of Rivers. The kidnappers released the girl at an agreed location where SSS agents picked her up. The kidnappers got away and no arrests were made.

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