Armed men have kidnapped 26 people including a pastor and a bride in two separate raids in Nigeria, the latest in a string of mass abductions to rock the west African country.

A gang of criminals abducted the clergyman along with 11 worshippers on Sunday after storming an out-of-the-way rural church in Ejiba, in central Nigeria's Kogi State, the state's information commissioner told AFP.

And in Sokoto State in the northeast a bride and 10 of her bridesmaids were among the 14 abducted in the night of Saturday to Sunday from the village of Chacho, a resident said.

In recent weeks, gangs have kidnapped hundreds of people for ransom across Nigeria, which has struggled to respond to the threat posed both by jihadist groups and criminals known locally as "bandits".

The unrest has heaped pres

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