Haiti: Seven Catholic clergy kidnapped, held for ransom

Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months as gangs gain influence amid political crisis.

At least seven members of the Catholic clergy, five of them Haitian and two French, have been kidnapped in Haiti, the spokesman for the Bishop’s Conference for the island nation said. The five priests and two nuns were abducted in the morning in Croix-des-Bouquets, a commune northeast of the capital Port-au-Prince, while they were “on their way to the installation of a new parish priest”, Father Loudger Mazile told the AFP news agency. The kidnappers demanded a $1m ransom for the group, which includes one French priest and one French nun, he added.