Abductions of Eva Gretzmacher and Claudia Abbt

Armed men from the Islamic State – Sahel Province abducted Eva Gretzmacher and Claudia Abbt on 11 January and 13 April 2025, respectively, from their homes in the city of Agadez.^[1][2]

Abductions of Eva Gretzmacher and Claudia Abbt

Part of the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel
Duration	11 January 2025 – present
Location	Niger and Mali
Perpetrator	Islamic State – Sahel Province
Missing	Eva Gretzmacher and Claudia Abbt

Background

Eva Gretzmacher was born on 29 April 1951 in Vienna, Austria.^[3][4] In 1997, she moved to the city of Agadez while working for the Spanish non-profit AMANAY Association. Gretzmacher was the victim of several kidnapping threats in 2021.^[5]

Claudia Maria Abbt was born around 1958 in Beirut, Lebanon, and later moved to Switzerland.^[6] She had a business in Tamanrasset, Algeria, in the tourism industry, but she would later move to Agadez with her son Younes. While in Agadez, she married a local camel herder. Abbt also established Tellit, an organization to help artisans.^[1][2][7][8]

Abductions

In the evening of 11 January 2025, 73-year-old development worker Eva Gretzmacher was attacked in her home in the Fada district of Agadez by a group of armed gunmen who forced her into a 4x4 truck at gunpoint.^[9][10] On 13 April at around 7:35 p.m., 67-year-old Swiss community worker Claudia Abbt was abducted by armed gunmen at her home in Agadez's Dagmanett 2 district in Agadez.^[1][2][7][8] The two women were taken to various locations in the southern Gao Region of Mali, in and around Asongo and Ménaka, and around the area of Adéramboukane.^[1][2]

On 29 April, the Islamic State – Sahel Province claimed responsibility for the abductions by publishing a photo of Gretzmacher, reportedly in good health.^[1][2] It is believed that the ISSP didn't abduct Gretzmacher and Abbt themselves but rather hired hired subcontractors who then handed the two women over to the ISSP.^[1][2]

On 25 April, five Indian workers working for the Kalpataru Power Transmission Limited Company were abducted by armed men while working on power lines near the Kandadji Dam in Tillabéri. The five workers, all from the Giridih district of Jharkhand, were identified as Sanjay Mahto, Faljit Mahto, Raju Mahto, Chandrika Mahto and Uttam Mahto.^[11][12][13] The day prior, on 24 April, in nearby Sakoira, 12 Nigerien soldiers were killed by suspected ISSP fighters. Two men were arrested for their involvement in the attack, and it is believed that the men who attacked Sakoira were responsible.^[14][15]