Pilot Abducted Near Presidential Palace
An American citizen has been kidnapped from his residence in Niamey, the capital of the Republic of Niger, by unknown armed men, multiple security sources in the West African country confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday.
The incident, which reportedly occurred late Tuesday night, took place barely 100 yards from the heavily guarded presidential palace, where ousted President Mohamed Bazoum has been held since he was toppled by a military coup in July 2023.
Sources told CBS News that the victim is a longtime missionary who has been working in Niger since 2010 under a U.S.-based charity organisation.
The abductors, said to be three unidentified armed men, stormed the missionary’s home in the city’s Plateau district, one of the most secured areas in Niamey, and whisked him away after allegedly neutralising his security guard.
According to Reuters, the missionary is a pilot with the evangelical organisation Serving in Mission.
He was abducted while en route to the airport in Niger’s Plateau neighborhood, a diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters.
Security messages circulating among officials in Niamey indicated that the assailants fled the scene in a vehicle and that the victim’s phone was later traced to an area about 56 miles north of the capital, a zone notorious as a hideout for Islamic State–linked militants operating along Niger’s borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.
No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, and there has been no official statement from either the Nigerien authorities or the U.S. Embassy in Niamey as of press time.
The United States Department of State has reportedly been contacted for confirmation or additional information regarding the incident.
The kidnapping comes amid heightened insecurity in Niger, which has remained volatile since General Abdourahamane Tiani seized power in a coup two years ago, promising to restore stability to the country.
Sources also disclosed that former President Bazoum remains under tight confinement within the palace complex, confined to two small rooms without windows or access to the outside world, except for occasional medical visits.
Security experts in the Sahel region have speculated that the latest abduction may have been carried out by fighters loyal to the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), an ISIS affiliate responsible for numerous attacks across Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
Niamey’s proximity to conflict zones, just an hour’s drive to the Burkina Faso border and two hours from Mali, has long made it vulnerable to militant infiltration despite the presence of heavy military security.
