A spokesman for the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses in neighboring Senegal said the couple are in their 70s and their son is around 50. They were living in Mali for personal reasons and are not missionaries, he said.
It was not immediately clear who took them, he said. Media reported that a Togolese national had been abducted with the Italians, but the spokesman said he could not confirm this.
The Italian Foreign Minister confirmed the kidnapping in a statement.
“The crisis unit is doing everything possible – in coordination with the competent state bodies – to find a positive solution to this affair”, he declared.
Kidnappings have increased recently in Mali, as Islamist militants linked to Al-Qada and the Islamic State expand their presence further south from their northern and central strongholds.
Militants are also using Mali as a launching pad for attacks in West Africa’s Sahel region and its coastal neighbours.
Abductions of foreigners, by contrast, have declined in the Sahel, as deteriorating security has deterred most people from traveling to high-risk areas. But in April 2021, French journalist Olivier Dubois was kidnapped in the northern city of Gao by Al-Qada-linked militants. We think he’s still a hostage.
In early April, armed men also abducted an 83-year-old American nun in neighboring northern Burkina Faso.