KANO, Nigeria (AFP)—Armed gangs kidnapped at least 163 Christian worshippers after storming two churches in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna State on Sunday, a member of the clergy told AFP.

Gangs known in Nigeria as “bandits” frequently carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and loot villages, mainly in the northern and central parts of Africa’s most populous country.

Sunday’s attacks are the latest in a wave of kidnappings targeting both Christians and Muslims in Nigeria.

“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.

Ishaku Dan’azumi, a traditional chief of Kurmin Wali said 166 people were seized from three churches in the village during Sunday service.

A security report prepared for the United Nations said “armed bandits” attacked multiple churches in the area on Sunday, abducting “over 100 worshippers”.

Kaduna state police did not confirm the attack. But its chief told reporters after in Kaduna city that officers responded and went to the “alleged scene of crime” on Sunday.

“Till now there is no information about any attack or any kidnapping,” police commissioner Muhammad Rabiu said in remarks broadcast on a local tv channel.

State commissioner for internal security Sule Shauibu dismissed the “narrative” about the kidnapping as “totally false, we do not have any evidence of such”.

Local chief Wali told AFP that “It is only politicians that are denying the kidnapping of our people.”

“They took away 177 people from three churches but 11 managed to escape. We now have 166 people in the hands of the kidnappers,” he said.

He said his village has lived under threat from gunmen “who kidnap our people. This has affected our farming activities as we grow less food than we used to.

“We have never complained to the authorities over kidnappings in our area as we have been the ones contributing to pay for the freedom of those kidnapped. Sometimes up to 20 are abducted and we have never complained, we have been dealing with the problem on our own”.

“This time we complained to the authorities because the number of those kidnapped is beyond our capacity to deal with,” he said.

Roughly evenly split between a mostly Christian south and Muslim-majority north, Nigeria is home to myriad conflicts, which experts say kill both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.

In November, armed gangs seized more than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school in Niger state, with 50 escaping and the rest being released in two batches weeks later.

US President Donald Trump has latched onto the insecurity in Nigeria, focusing on the killing of Christians and putting Abuja under diplomatic pressure.

In late December, the United States launched strikes on what it and the Nigerian government said were militants linked to the Islamic State group in the northwestern Sokoto state. Nigeria said it approved the strikes.

– More attacks ‘likely’ –

Kaduna is one of several states in northwest and central Nigeria that have for years been terrorised by criminal gangs who raid villages, abduct residents and burn homes after looting them.

Kajuru district is a hotspot for bandit attacks in Kaduna State, which has witnessed clashes between Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herders.

The violence centres around competition for land and dwindling resources, although on the surface it falls along ethnic and religious lines.

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.