(Corrects headline to reflect police have no official estimate and text to indicate eyewitnesses’ estimates.)
LAGOS, Aug 22 (Reuters) – Armed men abducted several worshippers from a mosque in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state during Friday prayers, police said on Saturday, in the latest mass kidnapping in a region plagued by violent gangs.
Police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said the attackers stormed Kpenya Mosque in the Dekara district of the Borgu local government area at about 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Friday after first attacking Gidan-Zana and Kpenya villages.
“The developing report indicated that no life was lost, while joint security detachment has been deployed to the area for assessment and rescue operations,” Abiodun said in a statement.
He said police could not confirm figures.
Local residents told Reuters that more than 60 worshippers were kidnapped in the attack which appeared coordinated and occurred simultaneously in Dekara and three other communities in Borgu while residents were observing Friday prayers. Reuters could not immediately verify the account independently.
Mass kidnappings for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal gangs, locally known as bandits, frequently raid villages, schools and highways.
(Reporting by Hamza Ibrahim and Ahmed Kingimi; writing by Isaac Anyaogu: Editing by Sharon Singleton)