Two Italian priests and a Canadian nun were kidnapped in northern Cameroon overnight, a bishop and a government source said yesterday, months after a French priest was seized nearby.

It was not immediately clear who took them, though Nigerian Islamist sect Boko Haram is known to operate in the area.

“Doors were broken towards midnight by unknown people and the religious were taken away. We do not know where they are. The act is not yet claimed but we imagine who is behind this kidnapping,” said Bishop Phillippe Stevens, from the parish of Maroua, where the kidnapping took place.

He named the priests as Giampaolo Marta and Gianantonio Allegri, both missionaries sent out by the diocese of Vicenza in northeast Italy, and the nun as Gilberte Bissiere.

Pope Francis was aware of the kidnappings and praying for those taken, the Vatican press office said.