{"id":108160,"date":"2025-12-23T11:10:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=108160"},"modified":"2025-12-23T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T11:10:44","slug":"gunmen-abduct-28-muslim-travellers-in-central-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=108160","title":{"rendered":"Gunmen abduct 28 Muslim travellers in central Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 33 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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Armed men have kidnapped 28 people travelling to an annual Islamic event in Nigeria\u2019s central Plateau state, local sources have told the BBC.<\/p>\n

The victims, including women and children, were ambushed in their bus on Sunday night as it was driving between villages.<\/p>\n

News of the abductions comes just a day after the Nigerian authorities announced the release of the remaining 130 schoolchildren\u00a0and teachers from a separate mass kidnapping at a Catholic boarding school in Niger state last month.<\/p>\n

A journalist based in Plateau state said the families of the latest victims had begun receiving ransom demands.<\/p>\n

The perpetrators are not known and the authorities have yet to comment.<\/p>\n

Kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, has become common across parts of northern and central Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Although the handing over of cash in order to release those being held is illegal, it is thought that this is how many cases are resolved and seen as a way for these gangs to raise money.<\/p>\n

The incident in Plateau state is unrelated to the long-running Islamist insurgency in the country\u2019s north-east, where jihadist groups have been battling the state for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

The insecurity in Nigeria received renewed international attention in November after US President Donald Trump threatened to send troops to \u201cthat now disgraced country, \u2018guns-a-blazing’\u201d. He alleged that Christians were being targeted.<\/p>\n

Nigeria\u2019s federal government has acknowledged the security problems but has denied that Christians are being singled out.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Information Minister Mohammed Idris said that recent tensions with the US over insecurity and alleged persecution of Christians have been \u201clargely resolved\u201d, resulting in stronger relations with Washington.<\/p>\n

He added that trained and equipped forest guards will be deployed to secure forests and other remote areas used as hideouts by criminal groups to supplement army operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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