GUNMEN killed three villagers and abducted 11 people, including a Catholic priest, during a pre-dawn attack in north-west Nigeria on Saturday, church officials said.

The gunmen attacked the priest’s residence in the Kauru local government area of Kaduna state during the early morning, Kaduna’s Catholic Diocese of Kafanchan said in a notice that described the assault as “an act of invasion by a group of terrorists.”

The attack is the latest in a cycle of violence that has surged in the north of the country.

More than 150 Christians were abducted from three churches in another part of Kaduna in January before being released this week while at least 160 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by Islamist extremists in Kwara state for refusing to be indoctrinated.

Authorities didn’t immediately provide details about the latest attack in Kaduna or about any rescue efforts.

The Kaduna Catholic church called for the safe release of the hostages.

Northern Nigeria is in the grip of a complex security crisis featuring both Islamist militants and armed gangs kidnapping people for ransom — a challenge that President Bola Tinubu has struggled to address since he was elected in 2023 after promising to end the crisis.

The armed groups were previously confined to regions farther north, but analysts say they have moved their operations south.