Gunmen on motorcycles kill at least 32 people in northern Nigeria

Gunmen riding motorcycles have killed at least 32 people and abducted several more in three villages in northern Nigeria.

Witnesses and local police said that the gunmen attacked three communities in Nigeria’s Niger State on Saturday.

The motorbike raids in the Borgu area came amid a complex security crisis in northern Nigeria, featuring armed groups affiliated with the Daesh terrorist group, also known as ISIL or ISIS, as well as bandit gangs that kidnap people for ransom money.

Niger State police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun confirmed that a raid was staged in one village and the gunmen had moved out to another location.

“Suspected bandits invaded Tunga-Makeri village,” he said. “Six persons lost their lives, some houses were also set ablaze, and a yet-to-be ascertained number of persons were abducted.”

Abiodun added that the gunmen had moved on to Konkoso village, while details of the other attacks were yet unclear.

One of the residents in Konkoso said that the gunmen staged their attack on his village in the early morning hours. “At least 26 people were killed so far in the village after they set the police station ablaze,” said Jereamiah Timothy.

He said the gunmen were shooting indiscriminately at the residents while jets were flying overhead.

“They were operating freely without the presence of any security,” Abdullahi Adamu, another resident of Konkoso, told the AP.

An unnamed humanitarian source cited by the AFP news agency put the death toll in Konkoso at 38, and going up as “other bodies are being recovered.”

The source said the victims were shot dead or had their throats slit, while most of the homes in the village were burned down.

AFP also cited a Konkoso resident as saying that the gunmen had killed his nephew and abducted four women from the village.

“After Konkoso, they went to Pissa, where they set a police station on fire and killed one person,” the resident said, adding that, “At the moment, many people are missing.”

The third attack was reported in Pissa, but the number of casualties and damage has not been announced yet.

The attacks in Niger State followed a deadly attack by armed fighters earlier this month in neighboring Kwara and Katsina states that killed nearly 200 people.

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The Kainji Forest, located on the border between Nigeria’s Niger and Kwara states, is known as a hideout for bandits and militants, including those from the armed group Boko Haram, as well as other al-Qaeda affiliated outfits.

JNIM, a group of extremist militants linked to al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for its first attack on Nigerian soil, near Woro, in Kwara State.

Last week, local media reports said community leaders in the Borgu area urged Nigerian President Bola Tinubu to take effective measures to contain security threats and establish a military base in the area to put an end to the frequent terrorist attacks on residents.

Nigeria has experienced a resurgence of mass abductions in recent months, reviving memories of the 2014 kidnapping of schoolgirls from Chibok by the militant group Boko Haram.

Kidnappings for ransom are a common tactic used by criminal gangs and armed groups, but the scale of recent attacks has intensified concerns over the country’s fragile security situation. Armed assailants abduct schoolgirls, male farm workers, women, and children.

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