Béla Szilágyi, President of the Hungarian Baptist Relief Service, reported the unfortunate incident on his Facebook page. He added that they are praying together with the parents and Nigerian Baptists for the abducted children.

The christianitytoday.com reported that more than 100 students at a Baptist boarding school in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna were captured early Monday morning in what Nigerian church leaders call the worst kidnapping of Christians to date.

Efforts were still underway to determine exactly how many students were abducted. A Bethel teacher told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that 140 students were kidnapped while 25 students escaped, but area residents living close to the school told MSN that 179 children were abducted, of which only 15 escaped.

The boarding school, founded by Bethel Baptist Church in Kaduna, was attacked after the kidnappers overpowered security personnel, local sources said. This is not the first time Christians in Nigeria have been attacked because of their religion.

According to Open Doors, the African country leads the world in the number of kidnapped Christians, with 990 Christians abducted.

In a list of countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian, Nigeria has moved up from 12th place last year to the top ten; 9th place to be precise.

Christian leaders in Nigeria believe that the reason behind the attacks on Christian communities in the country is that the perpetrating herdsmen are forcibly occupying Christian land, and spreading Islam as desertification makes it difficult to maintain their herds.