"The victim, a man in his 50s, was seized on Tuesday night and was already en route for the border with Mali, a diplomatic source told AFP. The Reuters news agency, citing another diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was a pilot for the evangelical organisation Serving in Mission (SIM). The diplomat said the victim was abducted by three unidentified men in Niamey's Plateau neighbourhood as he was heading for the airport."
"The group then headed for Niger's western Tillaberi region, where armed fighters linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda are known to operate. In a post on X, Wamaps, a collective of journalists in West Africa, said the abducted man had been working in Niger since 2010, and had been kidnapped just a few streets away from the presidential palace in central Niamey. It said no group had yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping or claimed a ransom."
"A US missionary working for an evangelical Christian organisation has been kidnapped in Niger's capital Niamey, the US State Department has said, in the latest kidnapping of a foreign national in the country. The US State Department confirmed the abduction to the AFP news agency on Wednesday, saying its embassy in Niamey was doing what it could to secure the man's safe release."
An American missionary and pilot for Serving in Mission was abducted in Niamey while heading to the airport and taken toward the border with Mali. The man, in his 50s and active in Niger since 2010, was seized by three unidentified men in the Plateau neighbourhood near the presidential palace. Abductors drove toward the western Tillaberi region, where ISIL- and al‑Qaeda-linked fighters operate. The US State Department confirmed the abduction and said the embassy in Niamey is working to secure his safe release. No group has claimed responsibility or demanded ransom amid a wider spike in kidnappings after the July 2023 coup.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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