Frenchman escaped 11 months captivity in Nigeria

PARIS — A French engineer kidnapped in northern Nigeria 11 months ago escaped on a motorcycle without paying ransom and will fly back to France on Sunday, police said.

Francis Collomp escaped from his abductors in Zaria, in the northern Nigerian state of Kaduna, and went to the nearest police station, said Kaduna State Police Commissioner Olufemi Adenaike. Police identified no suspects, but the Boko Haram splinter group Ansaru had claimed responsibility for his kidnapping.

Some 30 men stormed Collomp’s home on Dec. 19, 2012 — his 63rd birthday — and took him prisoner, killing a neighbor and a security guard in the attack.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of another French national, a priest who was abducted in Cameroon on Wednesday and taken to Nigeria.

French President Francois Hollande said he was sending his foreign minister to Nigeria immediately to greet Collomp “who freed himself.”

“We’re happy for Francis Collomp, but we do not forget the other hostages,” Hollande said in a news conference in Jerusalem. The president said a total of seven French citizens are being held in Nigeria, Syria and Mali.

Last week, the U.S. labeled Boko Haram and Ansaru as foreign terrorist organizations. On Saturday, Nigerian security forces raided a Boko Haram stronghold in the state of Borno, claiming 20 militants were killed in the firefight.