Armed gangs broke into two churches in Nigeria's Kaduna state on Sunday. After storming places of worship, they kidnapped at least 163 Christian faithful.
These gangs, known in Nigeria as "bandits", frequently carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and pillage villages, mainly in the north and center of the country.
Sunday's attacks are the latest in a wave of kidnappings targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. "The attackers arrived in large numbers, blocked the entrance to churches and forced the faithful to go out into the bush", Reverend Joseph Hayab, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria for the north of the country, said on Monday.
Divided roughly equally between a predominantly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north, nigeria is the scene of a multitude of conflicts which, according to experts, kill both Christians and Muslims, often indiscriminately.
In November, armed gangs kidnapped more than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger state. Fifty of them managed to escape and the others were released in two groups a few weeks later.
US President Donald Trump has seized on insecurity in Nigeria, emphasizing the massacre of Christians and exerting diplomatic pressure on Abuja.
In late December, the United States launched strikes against what it and the Nigerian government called militants linked to the Islamic State group in the country's northwest Sokoto State. Nigeria said it approved the strikes.
