Nigeria rescue bid: David Cameron says kidnapped Briton and Italian killed

A Briton and an Italian abducted by gunmen in Nigeria last year have died in a failed rescue attempt, Downing Street has announced.

Reuters reported Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti as saying Britain had been involved in the rescue attempt.

Gunmen abducted the two engineers from their lodgings in Birnin Kebbi city, in north-west Nigeria, on 12 May, 2011.

The Prime Minister says Nigerian forces - supported by the British - attempted to rescue Chris McManus and his Italian colleague, Franco Lamolinara, because their lives were believed to be in growing danger.