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Armed men killed nearly 200 people in separate attacks in remote villages in north-central Nigeria, local lawmakers, residents and police said on Wednesday, as security forces searched for survivors and tracked down the attackers.
In the central state of Kwara, gunmen attacked Wollo district on Tuesday, killing at least 170 people, Saidu Baba Ahmed, the region’s lawmaker, said by phone.
It was the worst attack recorded this year in the district, which borders Niger state and is increasingly targeted by armed groups who attack villages, kidnap residents and plunder livestock.
According to Ahmed, the gunmen rounded up the residents, tied their hands behind their backs and executed them. The lawmaker shared photos of the body with Reuters, but authorities could not immediately confirm it.
Villagers reportedly fled into surrounding bushland during the attack. Gunmen set fire to houses and shops.
Police said “many people died” but did not give a figure.
“As I speak now, I am in the village with military personnel, sorting the bodies and combing the surrounding area for further searches,” Ahmed said.
Several people were still missing as of Wednesday morning.
Residents told Reuters that during their sermons, the gunmen demanded that locals renounce allegiance to the Nigerian state and switch to Islamic Sharia. When the villagers pushed back, the militants opened fire.
Kwara Police spokesperson Adetun Ejire Adeyemi said police and military were in the area for search and rescue operations, but did not give details of casualties.
“A vile expression of frustration”
Kwara state Red Cross secretary Ayodeji Emmanuel Babaomo told The Associated Press that hundreds of people were attacked and many were killed, but he did not have exact figures due to the remoteness of the region, about eight hours from the state capital and near the Nigeria-Benin border.
Footage from the scene shown on local television showed bodies covered in blood lying on the ground with their hands tied, and houses on fire.
Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq said in a statement on Wednesday that the violence was a “despicable expression of discontent by terrorist organizations” over the ongoing military operations against armed militants in the state.
Nigeria is mired in a complex security crisis, with an insurgency by Islamic extremists in the northeast and a sharp rise in kidnappings for ransom by armed groups in the northwest and north-central regions in recent months. Inter-communal violence is also prevalent in the Central Province.
Mohamed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the region, told The Associated Press that Tuesday’s attacks in Wollo and Nuku were carried out by the Islamic State-linked militant group Laklawa.
But James Barnett, a researcher at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, said the perpetrators were most likely members of the Boko Haram faction, which has been involved in other recent massacres in the region. No one has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.
Nigeria’s military has said in the past that Laklawa’s roots are in neighboring Niger and that it became active in border communities in Nigeria after a military coup in 2023.
13 people killed in separate attacks
In another attack in the northern state of Katsina, gunmen moved from house to house, shooting victims, killing at least 21 people, residents and local police said.
The attack ended a six-month peace agreement between the community and armed groups.
It also highlights the dilemma faced by residents in Nigeria’s remote north, some of whom seek peace with the armed groups that terrorize them. Residents usually pool their money and food and give it to the bandits to avoid being attacked.
Last week, armed militants in northeastern Nigeria separately attacked a construction site and an army base, killing at least 36 people.
Nigeria has been under pressure to restore security since US President Donald Trump accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians last year after a number of Islamist attacks and mass kidnappings. The US military attacked a suspected terrorist target on December 25th.
Nigerian authorities say they are cooperating with the United States to improve security and deny systematic persecution of Christians.
