Six nuns kidnapped in Haiti

Eight people, including six nuns, were kidnapped Friday in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, according to the country's association of religious orders, amid an ongoing upswing in abductions.

"(We) were saddened to learn that six nuns from the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Anne, and others from the bus they were on, have been abducted," the Haitian Religious Conference said in an internal memo seen by AFP.

An armed group kidnapped the women around 7 am (1300 GMT ) as the nuns traveled to the various schools where they work, a conference official told AFP.

He did not provide information on the other two kidnapping victims.

There has been no report yet on a ransom demand.

Kidnappings -- targeting both well-known and ordinary people -- have been increasing for several weeks in Port-au-Prince and on certain national roads.

Last week, a doctor and a justice of the peace were kidnapped before being released after ransoms were paid.

The kidnappings come amid rampant gang violence in the poorest state in the Americas, whose political, economic and public health systems are in tatters.

Last year, the UN estimated that gangs controlled around 80 percent of Port-au-Prince.

The UN Security Council agreed in October to send a multinational mission to Haiti, led by Kenya, to assist the Haitian police, though it could take months yet to arrive.