Unknown gunmen stormed a Catholic priest’s residence in Kaduna early Saturday, killing three people and abducting the clergyman along with several others, in an assault that exposed deepening security lapses in the restive region, local church officials and police said Sunday.
The pre-dawn raid hit Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Kauru district, Kaduna state, around 3:20 a.m., with attackers exchanging fire with responding security forces before fleeing into surrounding forests.
The Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan identified the kidnapped priest as Nathaniel Asuwaye and reported 10 additional abductions, alongside three resident deaths during the chaos.663ac1
Kaduna police spokesman Mansir Hassan offered a differing account, stating five people were seized including the priest, and that the fatalities were two soldiers and one officer killed in the firefight.
“What happened was that five people were kidnapped including the chief priest. Security agents exchanged gunfire with the bandits, killed some of them, and unfortunately two soldiers and a police officer lost their lives in the process,” Hassan said.db919b
The incident follows the rescue of 166 worshippers abducted from two Kaduna churches in recent days, amid a surge in attacks targeting religious sites and communities.
Amnesty International decried the episode as evidence of Nigeria’s spiraling crisis, accusing authorities of “gross incompetence” in safeguarding civilians.
“Nigeria’s security crisis was increasingly getting out of hand,” the rights group said, pointing to repeated failures to protect rural populations from gunmen who have terrorized northern states like Kaduna for years.565d09
US President Donald Trump has amplified international scrutiny, recently blasting Abuja for neglecting Christian minorities—a claim Nigerian officials deny—while US forces conducted strikes on alleged terrorist targets in the northwest on December 25, 2025.
The assault underscores Nigeria’s entrenched farmer-herder conflicts and jihadist insurgencies, which have displaced millions and claimed thousands of lives since 2009, despite federal vows to bolster defenses.
