American Missionary Kidnapped In Nigeria

A US missionary has been kidnapped in Nigeria, her church has said.

The Free Methodist Church's website said the woman, identified as the Reverend Phyllis Sortor, had been abducted in the central Kogi state.

"The US Embassy has been notified, and the State Department and the FBI are working with local authorities to find and rescue her," it added.

According to the AFP news agency, masked gunmen came into a school where Rev Sortor was working and took her hostage.

The kidnappers "came into the school premises shooting sporadically to scare away people before taking (the hostage) away into the bush", Kogi state police spokesman Sola Collins Adebayo told the agency.

Nigeria is one of the world's worst countries for kidnapping.

Criminal gangs have kidnapped scores of expatriates in southern and central Nigeria over the years.

Central Kogi state has also had some low-level activity by Islamist militants linked to insurgent group Boko Haram.