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American missionary kidnapped in Nigeria

A female US missionary has been abducted from Kogi State in Central Nigeria. Africa's most populous nation is one of the world's worst country's for kidnapping.

  • By Tim Cocks Reuters

| Lagos, Nigeria

An American woman working as a Christian missionary in Nigeria was kidnapped overnight, the website of the Free Methodist Church and a security source said on Tuesday.

“Early this morning we received a report that Rev. Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in Nigeria, was abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi State, Nigeria by several persons,” the church said.

Nigeria is one of the world's worst country's for kidnapping, a major criminal enterprise that makes millions of dollars a year.

Criminal gangs have kidnapped scores of expatriates in southern and central Nigeria over the years. Central Kogi state has also had low level activity by Islamist militants linked to insurgent group Boko Haram, security sources say.

A U.S. State Department official said authorities had heard the reports but could not make further comments in the interest of privacy.

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