A 48-year-old U.S. pilot working with a Christian humanitarian organization has been abducted in Niamey, the capital of Niger, in what security sources describe as a rare kidnapping within the city.
According to intelligence sources quoted on Wednesday, the pilot was seized from his residence in a heavily secured neighborhood in central Niamey during a late-night attack.
The armed men reportedly broke into the compound and whisked him away without drawing much attention.
Authorities say the victim had been on a humanitarian mission in Niger, assisting with relief operations for local communities affected by insecurity and poverty.
His identity has not been publicly disclosed due to ongoing rescue efforts.
Nigerien security agencies have launched a nationwide search operation, deploying both local and regional intelligence units.
The government has also placed border checkpoints on high alert to prevent the kidnappers from moving the victim across international borders.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the abduction.
While terrorist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) operate across Niger’s vast northern and western regions, kidnappings in Niamey itself are extremely uncommon.
Security analysts note that the last recorded kidnapping in the Nigerien capital occurred in 2011.
However, the abduction follows a worrying pattern of rising insecurity across the Sahel.
Earlier this year, two elderly European women a 74-year-old Austrian and a 66-year-old Swiss national were kidnapped from Agadez, about 950 kilometers north of Niamey.
Both women had lived in the desert city for years.
Local reports suggested that they were later taken to Mali and possibly handed over to Islamic State-linked militants. Their fate remains unknown months later.
The Sahel region, where the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger converge, has been described as one of the most dangerous areas in the world, plagued by terrorism, banditry, and kidnapping-for-ransom networks.
Since the 2023 military coup that toppled Niger’s democratic government, relations with Western allies have sharply declined.
The junta has expelled French troops and scaled back cooperation with the United States and the European Union, further weakening counterterrorism operations in the region.
Security experts fear the worsening situation could embolden armed groups to expand their reach into urban centers like Niamey.