Armed gangs kidnapped 163 Christian worshippers after storming two churches in Nigeria's northern Kaduna state on Sunday, a member of the clergy told AFP.
"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, who lives in the city of Kaduna.
A UN security report seen by AFP on Monday also noted more than 100 were abducted.
Gunmen raided the two churches during Sunday mass in Kurmin Wali village in the predominantly Christian Kajuru district.
It is the latest in a wave of kidnappings targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.
Gangs — known in Nigeria as "bandits" — frequently carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and loot villages in mainly the northern and central parts of the country.
In November, armed gangs seized more than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger state. They were released weeks later in two batches.
Nigeria and the United States have been locked in a dispute over what President Donald. Trump has characterised as the mass killing of Christians in the country's armed conflicts.
In late December, the US launched strikes on what it and the Nigerian government said were militants linked to Daesh.
Nigeria's kidnappings are predominantly for ransom and the crisis has "consolidated into a structured, profit-seeking industry" that raised some $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025, according to a recent report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy.
