LAGOS, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- All the six oil workers, including two Germans kidnapped by a militant group in the southern Nigerianoil-rich Niger Delta region three days ago, were on Saturday freed unharmed and unconditionally, a state government spokesman said. 

    "The deputy governor of Bayelsa ... went there this morning andgot their release," Preye Wariowei, spokesman for the government of Bayelsa state, told Xinhua. "We have handed them over to their company B&B (Bilfinger Berger Gas and Oil Services Ltd.)."

    The workers were kidnapped on Wednesday morning on the way to aflow station operated by the oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in Bayelsa state. B&B, a subsidiary of German infrastructure giant Bilfinger Berger AG, is a subcontractor to Shell.

    A militant group, the Iduwini National Movement for Peace and Development, has claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. And at first, it demanded a ransom of 20 million US dollars for the release and asked Shell to fulfill an agreement signed with them three years ago to develop the Iduwini communities, near the company's EA oil field.

    Wariowei noted that since there is no problem between the communities and B&B, they agreed to release the hostages "unconditionally" following the intervention of Bayelsa state government.

    Asked how about the workers now, he said "they are very, very OK, there was no violence on them ... (but) they looked uncomfortable."

    The spokesman, meanwhile, accused Shell of failing to respect the agreement with the Iduwini communities.

    Shell, however, said the firm is committed to implementing the agreement but the construction of some projects has to be phased for 2006-2011 because of fund shortage. On the other hand, it said the group cannot represent the Iduwini communities.

    "This union that has kidnapped the people did not play any partin the negotiations for the MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding). Ifthey have any contribution to make they should do so through their accredited community representatives," a spokesman for Shell told Xinhua earlier.

    Communities in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, where the majority of Nigeria's oil is produced, usually accuse oil giants of not doing anything to develop the impoverished area, demanding compensation, sometimes seizing oil flow stations or kidnapping oil workers.

    It was said that it's the same group that kidnapped a Croatian and 15 Nigerian oil workers of another subcontractor to Shell in December last year. The workers were, however, all released unharmed.

    Nigeria is Africa's top oil producer with a daily output of more than 2 million barrels, while Shell accounts for half of the country's oil production. Enditem