article_snippet: Foreign nationals have often been kidnapped in Nigeria by local gangs who typically release hostages following a ransom payment.
article_snippet: Such abductions are especially common in the southern, oil-producing Niger Delta, where expatriates working with large oil companies have been a frequent target.
article_snippet: A number of foreigners have also been kidnapped in the north of Africa, but those attacks claimed by Boko Haram or the associated Islamist group Ansaru are considered a different phenomenon, and not necessarily motivated by a desire for ransom.
article_snippet: Boko Haram has been blamed for previous attacks in Kogi, including two raids targeting the same prison in 2012 and 2014.
article_snippet: Nigeria's Islamists groups have in the past publicly claimed the abduction of expatriates and the lack of such a claim following Sortor's kidnapping led many to believe that Boko Haram and Boko Haram affiliates were not involved.