Shafaq News – Abuja

Gunmen abducted 28 people, including women and children, in central Nigeria after intercepting a vehicle carrying worshippers traveling to mark the birthday of Prophet Muhammad*, according to an internal security report cited by Agence France-Presse on Tuesday.

The assessment, prepared for the United Nations, linked the abduction to the evening of December 21 near the village of Zak in Plateau State’s Bassa area, where armed assailants ambushed the group.

Security agencies launched an investigation, and no group has claimed responsibility.

The incident also coincided with the release of 130 schoolchildren in Niger State, marking the final group among more than 250 pupils seized a month earlier from a Catholic boarding school, authorities confirmed.

The United Nations has warned of a sharp rise in mass kidnappings, noting that recent attacks have largely targeted schoolchildren while other raids have involved worshippers taken from places of worship.

Nigeria’s security situation has also drawn scrutiny from the United States, which has voiced concern over violence affecting religious communities, a characterization Nigerian officials dispute by pointing to overlapping criminal, ethnic, and economic drivers.

Kidnappings across Nigeria are primarily fueled by ransom demands and have increasingly shifted into organized, profit-driven operations, with a report by SBM Intelligence estimating ransom payments at about $1.66 million between July 2024 and June 2025.

* Prophet Muhammad is regarded in Islam as the final messenger who received the Quranic revelations, and his birth is commemorated annually on the 12th of the Islamic month of Rabi Al-Awwal, a date observed across much of the Muslim world.