On Monday, a top church leader stated that gunmen invaded a Baptist church in northwest Nigeria and kidnapped 25 worshipers during a Sunday service.
The attack was the latest mass kidnapping in Nigeria, where insecurity is one of the most pressing issues confronting incoming President Bola Tinubu, who takes office at the end of the month.
Attackers stormed the Bege Baptist Church in Kaduna State's Chikun area on Sunday, abducting 40 persons at first but releasing 15 later, according to Reverend Joseph Hayab, head of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Kaduna State.
A Kaduna police official confirmed the attack on Sunday but declined to provide further details.
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In the northwest and central Nigeria, heavily armed gangs known locally as bandits frequently carry mass abductions for ransom, detaining their victims in camps hidden in extensive forests that sprawl across the region.
After a brief respite during the presidential and governorship elections in February and March, kidnappings for ransom and intercommunal assaults have resumed.
Last month, gunmen attacked an agricultural town in Kaduna, killing 33 people due to intercommunal violence between ethnic Fulani herders and pastoral farmers.
Earlier this month, ten schoolchildren were kidnapped in central Kaduna, though eight managed to flee two weeks later. Kidnappings of Catholic priests are widespread.
Last year, gunmen opened fire on a Catholic church in southwest Ondo state, killing at least 40 people in a rare incident in an otherwise safe area.
In addition to fighting criminal gangs, Nigeria's armed forces are engaged in a 14-year-long Islamist struggle in the country's northeast and simmering separatist conflicts in the southeast.
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