Prayers for his safe return.

Kano (AFP) — Boko Haram is holding a French priest who was kidnapped in northern Cameroon, a source in the banned Nigerian Islamist group said on Friday, rejecting claims of a rift among the insurgents.

“I can confirm that the French priest is in the hands of mujahideen (fighters) from Jamaat Ahl al-Sunna Li Dawat al-Jihad, who carried out the operation that was co-ordinated with Ansaru,” he told AFP.

Boko Haram prefers to go by the Arabic name, which translates as “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad” (holy war).

Ansaru is an offshoot of the militant group and has previously claimed kidnappings of foreign nationals.

The United States on Wednesday blacklisted both Boko Haram and Ansaru as terror groups, bowing to months of pressure to act after years of bloody violence in northeast and central Nigeria that has left thousands dead.

Hours after the declaration overnight Wednesday-Thursday, armed men abducted Roman Catholic priest Georges Vandenbeusch from his home near the town of Koza in northern Cameroon, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Nigerian border.

He was seized by about 15 people, who burst into his Nguetchewe parish base, according to the bishop of the Nanterre diocese near Paris, which has authority over the cleric.