KHARTOUM (AFP) — The body of a fourth Chinese hostage was found in Sudan on Wednesday as two local staff for a Yemeni company were shot dead, exacerbating fears of growing insecurity for the country's oil industry.
The recovery of the Chinese oil worker, one of a group of nine snatched in central Sudan 11 days ago, confirms Beijing's official death toll of four, although the circumstances of their killings remain murky.
"We found information from a certain department on the Sudanese side and Chinese personnel found the dead body and identified it is the Chinese. Now, we have four dead men," Chinese ambassador Li Chengwen told AFP.
The body was discovered in the same part of South Kordofan where three dead Chinese hostages were retrieved by the Sudanese government and flown back to Khartoum on Tuesday.
Two Chinese remain missing while three injured colleagues have returned to Khartoum.
Three engineers and six other workers from the China National Petroleum Corp were snatched in an oil-rich area of South Kordofan, on the fault line between former warring north and south Sudan, on October 18.
Beijing spoke of a rescue attempt and diplomats say they "understood" that the hostages were caught in crossfire, but Sudan denies any confrontation, saying the kidnappers spotted a helicopter, panicked and started shooting.
The government blamed Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) for the abductions, but local officials and diplomats pointed the finger at disaffected members of the Messeria tribe.
The Messeria were blamed for kidnapping four Indian oil workers and their Sudanese driver in Heglig in South Kordofan last May. Two of the Indians escaped alive, one was released and the other is missing, presumed dead.
On Wednesday, unknown gunmen shot dead two Sudanese working for HTC Yemen in Unity State, in semi-autonomous southern Sudan.
"They were on the road going to the oil station where they worked in Unity State," the Sudan-based manager for HTC Yemen, Abdelkarim al-Harabi, told AFP.
A Sudanese official said the gunmen had also kidnapped a Yemeni staff member in Unity State, part of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan, but Harabi could not confirm the report.
"We're now verifying our staff from Yemen to see if we have lost anyone. I'm at the airport now, waiting to receive the bodies," Harabi added.
On Tuesday, Khartoum vowed to spare no efforts to protect staff in oil fields and investments across the country.
Some analysts warn that the killings could have an adverse effect on oil exploration in Sudan, with some indications already that investment is lagging because of security concerns over relations with local communities.
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