Jonathan says Ansaru held foreign hostages might be alive

President Goodluck Jonathan said on Monday that some of the seven hostages believed to have been killed by Islamist group, Ansaru, this month might actually still be alive and the government has been working to rescue them.

Ansaru said earlier this month it had killed the seven foreign construction workers it had been holding since February, posting a video of what it said was their bodies on the Internet.

Italy and Greece confirmed that a Briton, an Italian, a Greek and four Lebanese abducted in Bauchi State had been killed by their captors.

Britain said only that it was likely they had been killed, whereas the Federal Government had so far not commented.

“Analysis of the information we have does not give us the conclusive position that they have all been killed but we suspect that some probably might have died of health related causes or direct killing”, Jonathan said during a visit by Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman.

“We have been working hard with friendly nations, especially the United Kingdom, to see that they are rescued. We suspect that they are in a rocky area, a very difficult area that can not be easily accessed but we are working hard to get to them”, Jonathan said.