Definition: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Input: Two U.S. citizens who were kidnapped from an oilfield supply ship off Nigeria's coast last month have been released, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki confirmed Tuesday. 
  
 News of the release comes nearly three weeks after armed men stormed the 221-foot U.S.-flagged C-Retriever and kidnapped the two Americans, identified at the time by U.S. and Nigerian officials as the captain and a chief engineer. 
  
 A high-tech hunt for pirates 
  
 The ship, owned by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore, was attacked October 23 in the piracy-plagued Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria. 
  
 Psaki said Tuesday she would not comment further about the Americans due to privacy concerns. 
  
 The oil-rich area off the coast of West Africa has increasingly drawn international attention as a piracy hotspot, with 40 pirate attacks reported in the first nine months of 2013, the International Maritime Bureau reported. 
  
 Partial amnesty for 'boy pirates'? ||||| The U.S. military says it did not take part in a rescue mission. NBC's Brian Williams reports. 
  
 Two Americans kidnapped from a U.S.-flagged oil vessel in the south of Nigeria almost three weeks ago have been released, the State Department said Tuesday. 
  
 The captain and the chief engineer of the C-Retriever were taken off the ship during an Oct. 23 attack in the Gulf of Guinea, where piracy dangers are on the rise. 
  
 Last week, a crew from NBC News tracked the 222-foot oil supply ship, owned by a Louisiana firm, to the outskirts of the Port of Onne, where it sat in the water apparently abandoned. 
  
 Two Americans who were kidnapped from their oil transport ship in the South of Nigeria have been released. NBC's Ronke Phillips reports. 
  
 Citing privacy concerns, State Department spokesman Jen Psaki said details of the release and the names of the Americans were not being made public. 
  
 "We welcome the release of the two U.S. citizens who were kidnapped from the Retriever," she said. 
  
 Experts say it's common for sailors who are abducted in Nigerian waters to be released after a ransom is paid. 
  
 Nigeria is considered the top kidnap hot spot in the world, according to security firm NYA. Analysts say anger that the country's oil wealth has not filtered down to average citizens is fueling the crime spike. 
  
 "There is a lot of anger within the local communities that the rush for 'black gold' has not led to an improvement in [people's] economic conditions," Leke Oyewole, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's special adviser on maritime services, told NBC News. 
  
 Earlier coverage: ||||| Two American sailors kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria last month were released over the weekend and are on their way home, according to two U.S. officials. 
  
 The civilians, yanked from their oil transport ship by unidentified gunmen, were freed after negotiations successfully yielded a ransom payment, the officials said. They were both safe and healthy when released, the officials said. 
  
 State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki confirmed the sailors' release and said the department "welcomes" the news. She declined to provide further details. 
  
 ABC News previously reported the U.S. company for whom the sailors worked, the maritime transportation company Edison Chouest Offshore, was negotiating for the sailors' release. U.S. government policy generally bars it from paying ransom for its citizens, but the policy does not extend to private companies. 
  
 The mariners' ship, called the C-Retriever, was attacked in the early daylight hours Oct. 23 by an unknown number of armed assailants who then separated the crew by nationality and made off with the Americans, a Pentagon official told ABC News the day of the attack. The captives were only identified as the ship's Captain and its Chief Engineer. 
  
 While globally piracy was down last year to its lowest levels in seven years, cases in Nigeria are on the rise. According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirate attacks off Nigeria's coast have jumped by a third this year -- allegedly perpetrated by criminal gangs who are looking for cargo ships with commodities, and seeking ransom for hostages. Around the world there have already been more than 200 "incidents" involving piracy this year, including 11 hijackings, the IMB said. |||||
Output:
Two American sailors kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria last month have been freed, reports CNN. Their names have not been made public, but the State Department confirms the pair's release. The men were taken off their US-flagged ship about three weeks ago and identified only as the captain and chief engineer. US policy against paying ransom for its citizens doesn't apply to private companies, notes ABC News, and that seems to have been what happened here. The ship is owned by Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore, reports NBC News, which notes that Nigeria has emerged as the "top kidnap spot in the world."