A Nigerian Catholic priest who lately served in the United States has been kidnapped by extremists alongside with varied travellers in northeast Nigeria’s Borno command, the church stated.
The Rev. Alphonsus Afina become as soon as kidnapped on June 1 near the northeastern town of Gwoza, discontinuance to the border with Cameroon, by the Islamic extremist community Boko Haram, Bishop John Bogna Bakeni of Maiduguri in fact helpful The Associated Press on Sunday.
Bakeni stated that he spoke with the priest over the cell phone a day after the kidnapping. Afina, although exhausted from trekking, become as soon as “sounding OK” and “in most interesting spirits” for the length of the quick dialog, in accordance to the bishop.
The priest become as soon as touring from the metropolis of Mubi, where he’s based fully, to Maidiguri, the capital of Borno, for a workshop when his convoy become as soon as ambushed by armed men while waiting for clearance at a militia checkpoint, he stated.
A rocket-propelled grenade hit one of many autos, killing one particular person and wounding others, in accordance to the bishop.
Bakeni stated it become as soon as sophisticated to score out if the priest become as soon as specifically focused, given the amount of vacationers caught in the ambush. Thoroughly different vacationers were moreover kidnapped, he stated, even though it become as soon as unclear what number of.
Nigerian authorities have not publicly commented on the abductions and didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Rev. Robert Fath, the vicar overall of the diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, in fact helpful the Anchorage Each day News on Thursday that he had bought a cell phone name from Boko Haram confirming they had Afina.
Afina served in Alaska from 2017 to 2024 sooner than returning to Nigeria, where he works with the Justice, Pattern and Peace Charge, a Catholic social justice community.
Nigerian authorities are struggling to stem rising violence in the north and central areas where armed groups, including Boko Haram, goal rural communities, killing thousands and abducting other people to ransom.
The attacks infrequently goal non secular figures a lot like clerics. In March, a priest in central Nigeria become as soon as kidnapped and killed by unidentified armed men.
Boko Haram, Nigeria’s homegrown jihadis, took up hands in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical model of Islamic law. The battle has spilled into Nigeria’s northern neighbors and resulted in the loss of life of around 35,000 civilians and the displacement of more than 2 million others, in accordance to the United Countries.
