Kano: Two German archaeologists have been kidnapped in Kaduna state, northern Nigeria, police said yesterday, stoking fears of more abductions in a region hit by rising violence. The pair, who were working with Nigeria's National Commission for Museum and Monuments, were seized at about 8:55am as they worked at an excavation site in southern Kaduna on Wednesday. Federal police chief Ibrahim K. Idris said the men had been assigned security personnel for their own protection but that they did not go with them to the dig site into ancient Nok culture. Surveillance helicopters and anti-kidnapping and counter-terrorism officers have been deployed in the hunt for the perpetrators, he added. The foreign ministry in Berlin made no comment on the kidnapping but residents said two women, also thought to be German, were with the men when they were attacked. "The abductors came wielding guns and machetes and asked the two Germans to follow them into the bush," said a resident who asked not to be identified because of security fears.
