LAGOS (AFP) -- One of three Italians kidnapped last week by suspected militants in Nigeria's volatile Niger delta region told AFP early Wednesday that all the hostages are "fine".

"We are all OK. We are fine," Roberto Dieghi said.

Dieghi, 64, was seized December 7 along with fellow Italians Francesco Arena and Cosma Russa, and Saliba Imad, a Lebanese national, during an attack on an oil installation belonging to Italy's Agip company.

A militant group notorious for previous hostage-takings, the Fighters of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), claimed responsibility.

Dieghi said he and his fellow captives were being well treated. "But I miss my family too much. I love them too much," he said. Asked about the conditions under which they are being held, he said: "We are almost free."