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American missionary kidnapped from Christian school in Africa
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An American Christian missionary in central Nigeria was kidnapped from Hope Academy, according to the website of the Free Methodist Church.
Highlights
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
2/24/2015 (1 decade ago)
Published in Africa
Keywords: kidnapped, Boko Haram, Africa, Nigeria, Christian missionary, Hope Academy, Phyllis Sortor
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Early this morning we received a report that Reverend Phyllis Sortor, our missionary in Nigeria was abducted from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo, Kogi State, Nigeria by several persons," the church stated.
Multiple masked gunmen raided Sorter's school, sporadically shooting to scare away people. They then grabbed Sortor and took her away.
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"We are hopeful of finding her," the Kogi state police spokesman expressed. "Our suspicion is that she was picked up for ransom."
The Kogi police, the State Department and the FBI are all working to locate the American woman now held hostage.
Although she has experienced a lot of opposition and resistance, Sortor has been working as a missionary in Africa for the last ten years. She succeeded in building Christian schools in a majority-muslim area, according to Daily Mail.
"They're over there doing good for other people and this happens," stated Richard Sortor, Sortor's stepson.
Nigeria is infamous for their scores of kidnapping, but central Kogi state hasn't been the Nigerian Islamist terrorist group, Boko Haram's main target.
Motives behind Sortor's kidnapping are still unknown and the U.S. State Department declines comments in the interest of privacy.
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