Cameroon: Kidnapped Italian priests named

Two Italian priests kidnapped in Cameroon have been named as Giampaolo Marta and Gian Antonio Allegri.

Two groups of armed men raided the homes of priests and nuns in a northern Cameroon parish early on Saturday morning and captured the priests.

An 80-year-old Canadian nun was kidnapped at the same time. She has not been identified by officials.

Italy’s Foreign Ministry said it has been working with the Italian Embassy in the Cameroon capital, Yaoundé, to resolve the situation.

Last year, Georges Vandenbeusch, a French priest kidnapped in the same area of northern Cameroon was reported to have been held in northern Nigeria by Al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram. Vandenbeusch was freed after six weeks.

It’s not yet known whether this weekend’s abductions were carried out by Boko Haram.

The Islamist group has killed thousands of people in its quest for an Islamic state in Nigeria, which borders the north of Cameroon.