Scores of people were kidnapped from a mosque in Nigeria's north-central Niger state as armed groups attacked several villages, authorities reported Saturday.
The assailants targeted a mosque in Kpenya village following assaults on a string of other villages in the remote Borgu Local Government Area on Friday. Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun stated that no lives were lost during the attacks, and the military has been deployed to the area.
Residents and local officials provided varying numbers for those abducted. Borgu area council chairman Abdullahi Mohammed Nasir reported that at least 60 people were kidnapped and an unspecified number sustained gunshot injuries while attempting to flee. A local youth leader, Zubairu Umar Talba, estimated that around 80 people were taken, including his 85-year-old father.
"People were abducted while praying at a Juma’at mosque on Friday," Nasir said. "That was when the bad people came and surrounded the mosque and took them away."
Abductions by armed groups are a frequent occurrence in Nigeria, where various factions engage in kidnapping for ransom and sometimes clash with each other. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the Friday attacks. A search for those abducted was underway on Saturday.