5 soldiers killed, 35 civilians abducted in 2 ISWAP attacks
On We’ve rescued 80 students, 4 others – Police Four killed in S’Kaduna reprisal attacks-as more troops are deployed to flashpoints High rate of kidnapping in Nigeria worrisome Archbishop Kaigama
By Kingsley Omonobi, Bashir Bello, Ibrahim HassanWuyo & Luminous Jannamike
Five soldiers were killed by Islamic State West Africa Province, ISWAP, in an ambush on a military convoy in Borno State, weekend.
ISWAP split from the mainstream Boko Haram six years ago and rose to become a dominant group.
This came as no fewer than 35 people were kidnapped on Friday, also by ISWAP militants at a fake checkpoint in Garin Kuturu village outside Jakana, 25 kilometres from Maiduguri, Borno State.
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Friday Olokor, Abuja
The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Ignatius Kaigama, on Sunday, expressed concern over the worsening insecurity in the country, describing it as “very perplexing.”
He, therefore, warned Nigerians travelling for Christmas and the New Year to celebrate “with maximum vigilance and great caution.”
The cleric issued the warning during the Fourth Sunday of Advent mass, which held at the Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral, Abuja.
He also confirmed that two Catholic priests, Rev. Fr. Matthew Dajo of Abuja Archdiocese, who was kidnapped from his residence, and Rev. Fr. Valentine Ezeagu, who was abducted on his way to his father’s funeral in Imo State, had been freed by their captors.
Archbp. Kaigama calls on Gvt and Intl Community to protect Nigerians
The Archbishop of Abuja welcomes news of the release of hundreds of abducted schoolboys and of two Catholic priests and calls for increased efforts on the part of the government and the international community to protect Nigerian citizens.
By Francesca Sabatinelli & Linda Bordoni
Hundreds of schoolboys who were abducted last week in the northwestern Nigeria have been freed. Two Catholic priests who were kidnapped in the past weeks have also been liberated.
A state official confirmed that the 344 students who were missing for nearly a week, after an attack on a Secondary School in Katsina State, had been rescued by the Nigerian military late on Thursday, and that none of them was harmed.
.A worshipper prays during Mass in 2018 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Beijing. Christians and others practicing their faith experienced serious challenges to religious freedom around the world this year, heightened by dangers posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. (CNS photo/Damir Sagolj, Reuters) .Bob Fu, president of China Aid, a Texas-based aid organization for Chinese Christians, speaks during a forum titled Religious Persecution 75 years After the Holocaust at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington Feb. 5, 2020. (CNS photo/Joel Mason-Gaines, courtesy U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum) .VolunteerS clean the Syriac Catholic Church of St. Thomas in Mosul, Iraq, Oct. 28, 2020. News reports said the effort seeks to sweep away the horrors of three years of rule by Islamic State militants and welcome back members of minority faiths who fled IS. (CNS photo/Abdullah Rashid, Reut