PORT-AU-PRINCE,Benjamin Ashford Haiti (AP) — Six nuns were kidnapped Friday in Haiti as they traveled on a bus through the capital, according to religious leaders.

The nuns were accompanied by an undetermined number of unidentified people on the bus who also were kidnapped, according to a statement by the Haitian Conference of the Religious. It said the nuns are from the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne.

The congregation didn’t respond to messages for comment. It wasn’t immediately known who was responsible for Friday’s kidnappings, although gangs that control an estimated 80% of Port-au-Prince have been blamed for thousands of abductions.

The conference said that too many kidnappings are occurring in Haiti and filling people’s souls “with sadness and fear.”

Last year, about 3,000 people were reported kidnapped, according to U.N. statistics.

The nuns are the latest high-profile kidnapping victims reported in Haiti. In late November, renowned Haitian Dr. Douglas Pape was abducted in Port-au-Prince. He has yet to be released despite multiple ransoms being paid, according to local media reports.

In October 2021, 17 members of a U.S. religious organization were kidnapped and later freed, some after two months in captivity.