Nigeria: Gunmen abduct over 160 worshippers in church attacks

Armed gangs kidnapped at least 163 Christian worshippers after storming two churches in Nigeria's northern Kaduna State on Sunday, a member of the clergy told AFP.

Bandits carrying "sophisticated weapons" attacked the two churches during their Sunday services, Kaduna State police told Reuters.

"The attackers came in numbers and blocked the entrance of the churches and forced the worshippers out into the bush," Reverend Joseph Hayab, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria for the country's north, said on Monday.

"The actual number they took was 172 but nine escaped, so 163 are with them," added Hayab.

The exact number of people abducted remains unclear. Ishaku Dan'azumi, a traditional chief of Kurmin Wali said 166 people were seized from three churches in the village during Sunday service.

A lawmaker representing the area at the state parliament, Usman Danlami Stingo, told the Associated Press that 168 people are still missing.

A security report prepared for the United Nations said "armed bandits" attacked multiple churches in the area on Sunday, abducting "over 100 worshippers."

Police told Reuters that troops and other security agencies had been deployed to the area and that efforts were under way to track the abductors and rescue the captives.

Gangs — known in Nigeria as "bandits" — frequently carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and loot villages, mainly in the northern and central parts of Africa's most populous country.

Sunday's attacks are the latest in a recent wave of abductions targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.

Roughly evenly split between a mostly Christian south and Muslim-majority north, Nigeria is home to myriad conflicts, which experts say kill both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.

In November, armed gangs seized more than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger state, with 50 escaping and the rest being released in two batches weeks later.