Around a hundred troops, military trucks and a helicopter were deployed in a failed hostage rescue bid in Nigeria in which an Italian and Briton were killed, witnesses said on Friday. As Italy seethed over how it had been kept in the dark about Thursday’s deadly raid in the northwestern city of Sokoto, witnesses said the captors and the security forces waged a gun battle lasting seven hours. At least two hostage-takers were killed in the operation along with British national Chris McManus and Italy’s Franco Lamolinara, they added. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the deaths of the hostages on members of the Islamist group Boko Haram, which has waged a violence campaign mainly in the northeast of the country. He said the killers had been arrested. British Prime Minister David Cameron meanwhile took responsibility for authorising the operation to rescue the two expatriate engineers who were kidnapped in May. His Italian counterpart Mario Monti convened a security committee meeting over Britain’s failure to consult Rome before approving the rescue bid. Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano was quoted as saying that the failure to inform Rome about the bid was ‘inexplicable’. While officials gave few details about the operation or those involved, newspapers in London said that it had included members of the British elite forces Special Boat Service (SBS) who had been in Nigeria for a fortnight. A resident who lives directly opposite the house where the two Europeans were killed, said at least 100 soldiers were involved in the operation. They came in three trucks and blocked the entrance to the house. The kidnappers apparently tried to flee the troops by scaling a wall into a next-door house which was still under construction before then engaging them in an intense gun battle, the witness told AFP on condition of anonymity.
