{{Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun have been kidnapped by gunmen in northern Cameroon, Italy’s foreign ministry and media reports said on Saturday.}}<\/p>\n
The attack occurred overnight in the north of the west African country, which borders violence-wracked Nigeria, according to Italy’s Ansa news agency.<\/p>\n
The Italian foreign ministry said that two priests from Italy’s northern Vicenza region had been seized, but gave no other details.<\/p>\n
Armed gunmen pulled up to the buildings where the priests and the nun were staying at around 02:00 (01:00 GMT) and ransacked them before taking the hostages, added the Ansa news agency.<\/p>\n
Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on its website that the victims were staying in the northern Maroua region, which borders the part of northern Nigeria that’s a stronghold of the Boko Haram Islamist group.<\/p>\n
The attack comes three months after the release of French priest Georges Vandenbeusch, who was kidnapped in the same region in mid-November 2013 and then held in neighbouring Nigeria by Boko Haram.<\/p>\n
One of the two priests taken on Friday night had been in Cameroon for more than six years while the second had arrived around a year ago, Ansa reported.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Vincenza, where the priests were from, were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
– AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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