American nun, 83, kidnapped by armed men in northern Burkina Faso

Unidentified armed men kidnapped an 83-year-old American nun in northern Burkina Faso, the bishop of the local diocese said on Tuesday, in the latest in a series of abductions of Westerners in the West African country. The nun was named in a statement as Suellen Tennyson, of the Catholic congregation Marianites of Holy Cross.

Unidentified armed men kidnapped an 83-year-old American nun in northern Burkina Faso, the bishop of the local diocese said on Tuesday, in the latest in a series of abductions of Westerners in the West African country.

The nun was named in a statement as Suellen Tennyson, of the Catholic congregation Marianites of Holy Cross. She had been serving in a community of nuns in the parish of Yalgo, part of the diocese of Kaya, where she was kidnapped on Monday night, since 2014, it said. Northern Burkina Faso is overrun by Islamist militants, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State. Several Westerners have been kidnapped in recent years.

"Sister Suellen Tennyson was taken to an unknown destination by her kidnappers who, before leaving, vandalised rooms (and) sabotaged the community vehicle which they tried to take," Kaya Bishop Theophile Nare said in the statement. A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Burkina Faso declined to comment.

Burkina Faso's ruling military junta has said security is its top priority and this week presented a new plan to reorganise and reinforce army operations against the militants.