Gunmen stormed the house of a long-serving American aid worker in Niger, killing two people before fleeing with the man toward the border with Mali, authorities have said.
It is believed to be the first time a US citizen has been abducted in the vast Sahel region, where al-Qaida and criminal gangs have targeted French nationals and other Europeans for more than a decade, demanding millions of pounds for their release.
No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is one militant group that has pledged to attack European and American targets in north-west Africa.
In the past decade, the organisation is estimated to have raised more than £40m from such kidnaps. Al-Qaida-linked militants have abducted foreigners in Niger and brought them to northern Mali.
“We are aware of reports of the kidnapping of a US citizen in Niger,” a US state department official said after the abduction late on Friday. “The US Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and security of US citizens overseas.”
The government of Niger said in a news release on Saturday that the American had lived in the country since 1992. “These criminals are currently en route toward Mali and our forces are pursuing them,” the interior ministry said.
“The president of the republic is personally following the situation and our forces are fully mobilised to capture them and put an end to this disastrous affair.”
Daouda Maiga, the governor of Mali’s Ménaka region bordering Niger, said authorities had been alerted to be on the lookout for a white Toyota Hilux. The abduction took place in Abalak, in the Tahoua region of Niger.
About a week ago, 22 people were killed in a refugee camp 155 miles (250km) away from the site. The camp shelters Malian refugees who have fled into Niger from the violent unrest in their country, which is still riven by fighting between French-led forces and Al-Qaida-linked militants.
The Sahel region of north-west Africa, an umbrella term for parts of countries including Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Niger, has been the site of a series of kidnappings and targeted attacks on westerners.
A number of foreigners remain hostage in the Sahel region, including two people seized in separate attacks in Timbuktu, Mali. In Burkina Faso, an Australian doctor and a Romanian man are being held captive.
