The Briton and Italian kidnapped in Nigeria were abducted by a splinter cell of a radical Islamist sect and murdered before a failed commando rescue operation, the nation’s secret police said.

The fallout from the failed hostage rescue bid in Nigeria was continuing today after William Hague insisted it had been impossible to inform the Italian authorities in advance.

Italian president Giorgio Napolitano led a chorus of condemnation of Britain’s failure to inform the Italian government before launching a botched rescue mission with Nigerian forces that led to the deaths of British and Italian hostages held by a militant Islamist group.

A British and Italian hostage have died in Nigeria, during a failed attempt to free them from their captors.