US religious group says 17 missionaries kidnapped in Haiti

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – A group of 17 missionaries including children has been kidnapped by a gang in Haiti. That’s according to a voice message sent to various religious missions by an organization with direct knowledge of the incident. The message from Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries said the missionaries were on their way home Saturday from building an orphanage. The one-minute message asked for prayers that the gang members "would come to repentance.” The message also said that the mission’s field director’s family and one other unidentified man stayed at the ministry’s base while everyone else visiting the orphanage was abducted.