The United States Embassy in Nigeria has asked its nationals to avoid travels to the troubled West African nation, in view of escalating security concerns across the country.

In a statement on Thursday morning, the U.S. Mission in Nigeria reiterated its travel advisory earlier issued to citizens on September 21, wherein it warned of the prevalence of violent crimes in the country, which it said ramps up during the Yuletide.

U.S. authorities also advised its subjects currently residing in Nigeria to exercise extreme caution, as it noted that the Trump administration had “limited ability” to provide emergency services to nationals across the country due to heightened insecurity.

“Violent crime – such as armed robbery, assault, carjacking, kidnapping, and rape – is common throughout the country,” the advisory read. “Terrorists continue plotting and carrying out attacks in Nigeria, especially in the Northeast.”

It added that: “Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting shopping centers, malls, markets, hotels, places of worship, restaurants, bars, schools, government installations, transportation hubs, and other places where crowds gather.”

Nigerian authorities have admitted helplessness in containing insurgency, widespread kidnapping and armed banditry that have ravaged many parts of the country for years.

Two weeks after scores of farmers were recently slaughtered on a rice field in Borno’s Zabarmari village by Boko Haram jihadists, no fewer than 333 pupils of an all-boys science school in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state Katsina were abducted on December 11 by the dreaded terrorist sect.