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ABUJA - Armed kidnappers attacked two buses in southeastern Nigeria, with an unknown number of victims still missing Friday as security agencies searched for them.
Abductions for ransom by criminals, armed groups and jihadists are a multimillion-dollar industry in Africa's most populous country -- though the violence is typically concentrated in the north.
The buses were held up by unidentified armed men at around 6:30 am Thursday on a road near the town of Umunoha, police in Imo state said.
Police, "in collaboration with sister security agencies", have "deployed tactical teams and operational assets to rescue" the victims, they said in a statement late on Thursday.
Among the passengers were members of Nigeria's National Youth Service Corps, a post-university, one-year national service programme.
Ten people were rescued and both buses recovered, police said, adding: "The exact number of persons abducted is being verified and will be made public once confirmed."
Nigerian security forces are stretched thin on multiple fronts.
The northeast faces a jihadist insurgency that, while weakened from its peak strength, has spread into the northwest and centre of the country -- areas already under pressure from non-ideological "bandit" gangs known for staging mass kidnappings and levying "taxes" on farmers.
Central Nigeria also faces deadly farmer-herder clashes over land, while the southeast is home to a simmering separatist movement. - AFP