Story highlights Abducted US aid worker has 29 years' experience working in Niger, group says

Assailants stormed the aid worker's home in Abalak, Niger's interior ministry says

(CNN) Armed assailants abducted a US aid worker from his home Friday night in the West African nation of Niger, killing a police officer and a guard before fleeing west toward neighboring Mali, Niger's interior ministry said.

Witnesses in Abalak described the abductors forcing the aid worker to strip down to his undergarments before putting him in their four-wheel drive vehicle, a government source told CNN on condition of anonymity.

The source said removing clothes from hostages was a usual practice of terrorist groups trying to avoid being tracked.

Authorities are taking all necessary measures to locate the American and his abductors, including imposing a heavy military presence between Abalak and the border with Mali, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

The assailants stormed the aid worker's home, the interior ministry said. The slain guard was the aid worker's bodyguard, according to the source.

Read More