Gunmen kidnapped around 30 people from two Christian communities in northwestern Nigeria, the latest in a recent spate of abductions, two clerics said Thursday.
Criminal gangs known as “bandits” regularly raid communities and kidnap for ransom in northwestern and central Nigeria.
The gangs stormed two communities in Kaduna State late Monday, seizing around 30 residents and wounding a local chief, the sources said.
“We received the report that bandits attacked Kutaho and Kugir communities and kidnapped around 30 people, including a catechist, his pregnant wife and their child,” said Reverend Joseph Hayab, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the north.
“Eleven of them have escaped, and we are liaising with security agencies to get the rest back,” he told AFP.
Father Linus Bobai, a priest from Kutaho, confirmed the abductions to local television station Arise.
According to an escaped hostage, the victims were taken to a town near the border with Niger State, Bobai said.
Nigeria’s long-running security crises have drawn international attention after US President Donald Trump said the violence amounted to a “genocide” of Christians and ordered Christmas Day strikes targeting militants.
Experts say the unrest in Africa’s most populous country hits both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.
The latest kidnappings come after at least 51 people were abducted and three killed in three days of unrest last week in a nearby region of Kaduna State.
Last month, 183 Christian worshippers were kidnapped from three churches in Kauran Wali village, in neighbouring Kajuru district.
They were released three weeks later following negotiations between state authorities and the captors.
It is unclear if ransom was paid.
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