Gunmen Kidnap Two Germans in Nigeria

Nigerian officials have announced that two visiting German professionals have been kidnapped in a village in the northern parts of the country.

Aliyu Usman, Assistant Superintendent of the Kaduna Police Command, said that the two Germans were archeologists, and have been identified as Peter Breunig and Johannes Behringer.

According to Usman, they were kidnapped by gunmen in the Jenjela village in the Kaduna state in the northern Nigeria.

Both Breunig and Behringer came to Nigeria as part of a group of four archeologists from the Goethe University in Frankfurt.

The group of archeologists had been working in collaboration with the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in Nigeria.

Usman and the police in Kaduna did not reveal whether or not they have any leads on the kidnapping or whether they have been working with the German consulate to locate the kidnapped archeologists.

They did say, however, that they are working with the villagers of Jenjela village to track down the kidnappers.

Kidnappings in Nigeria have been on the increase over the past two years.

Ever since the country was hit by the recession, kidnappings of foreigners have increased significantly, with kidnappers demanding huge sums of money for the safe return of the victims.

It is not yet known if the kidnappers are demanding a ransom for the Germans.