Nigeria: Nigeria

Nigeria Dept: Cameroon President Paul Biya ordered tight security measures and urgent steps to free the hostages, who include four children. They were kidnapped by gunmen in the country's far north on Tuesday and whisked toward Nigeria. A ministry statement said the Cameroon government is in contact with Nigerian and French authorities, according to Vancouver Sun. "We have already sent alert messages across the northeast borders and all other borders of the nation," Musa said and military helicopters are searching for a vacationing French family of seven kidnapped in Cameroon, and security around the region is being increased amid tensions over France's role in western Africa. Officials suggested the involvement of Boko Haram, one of Nigeria's Islamic extremist sects. The French gas group GDF Suez identified the captives as an employee working in Yaound , the Cameroon capital, and his family. French media say the children are five to 12 years old. Cameroon state television reported that the three adults have been separated from the four children. Nigeria's borders were put on red alert in the hunt for the kidnappers, believed already in the country or heading there, said Nigeria's comptroller general of immigration, Rilwan Musa. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.