LAGOS: Armed men attacked a church in northwest part of Nigeria, abducting 25 worshippers from a Sunday service, western media reported on Monday.
Gunmen Kidnap 25 from Church
The assault was the latest mass abduction in the country, where insecurity is one of the key challenges facing next president Bola Tinubu who assumes office at the end of the current month.
Armed men on Sunday burst into the Church in Chikun area of Kaduna State, firstly kidnapping 40 people, though 15 later managed to escape, Reverend Joseph Hayab, chief of the Christian Association of Nigeria in the region told AFP.
“25 of them are still with them,” Hayab added, referring to the attackers.
A police spokesperson also confirmed Sunday’s assault but could not immediately give any further details.
Reports said that armed gangs often carry out mass abductions for ransom in Nigeria, holding their detainees in camps hidden in huge forest in the region.
Gunmen killed as many as 33 people in an assault on a farming village in Kaduna in April.
Earlier in the month, ten school kids were also abducted in central Kaduna, though 8 later managed to escape two weeks following their abduction.
As well as fighting criminal gangs, Nigeria’s army are also fighting a 14-year-long conflict in the northeast of the state and simmering separatist tensions in the southeast part of the country.
