The local Catholic diocese reported on Monday that a Nigerian Catholic priest was kidnapped from his rectory in the early hours of the morning in the town of Zambina in the northern state of Kaduna.

It was reported that after unsuccessfully trying to get Father Emmanuel Silas to preside over the morning mass, parishioners went in search of him.

It’s unclear who committed the kidnapping.

Armed gangs are rife across Nigeria’s northwest where they rob or kidnap for ransom, and violence has been increasing, where thinly stretched security forces often fail to stop the attacks.

The latest kidnap comes after gunmen last week abducted four Chinese workers with some local employees and killed an unknown number of people at a mine in Niger state in northwestern Nigeria.