Abducted German engineer 'killed in Nigeria'

A German engineer abducted in January by gunmen in Kano in northern Nigeria has been killed, a security source in the city has told the BBC.

Residents in the west of the city say they heard gunfire during the morning.

In March, a video purported to be from al-Qaeda's north African wing demanded Germany free a woman jailed on terror charges in return for his release.

The news came as the authorities said an Italian engineer had been kidnapped in Kwara state in the west of Nigeria.

Two expatriates, seized in the north-west of the country last year, died when Nigerian and UK forces tried to free them in March.

Kidnappings are uncommon in Kwara. But oil workers are often targeted for ransom in the south, and Islamist militants are active in northern Nigeria, where the German engineer was seized in January.

Details about the circumstances of his death are still sketchy - police in Kano are due to brief the media later on Thursday.

The Italian man abducted in Kwara reportedly works for Borini Prono, an Italian building and civil engineering firm that focuses mainly on roads.

A government spokesman in Kwara state confirmed to the BBC that the kidnapping had occurred and said the engineer was at a work site when he was seized on Monday.

An Italian foreign ministry spokeswoman said Italian officials were in contact with the Nigerian authorities and the man's family.

"We can confirm an Italian engineer has been kidnapped. We don't yet know why or by whom," she told the AFP news agency.