At least 30 villagers were killed and several others abducted after heavily armed gunmen attacked a remote community in northern Nigeria’s Niger state, the Associated Press reported on Sunday, citing local police. The incident is the latest in a series of violent attacks that have continued to plague the region.
The assault took place on Saturday evening in Kasuwan-Daji village in the Borgu local government area. Police said the attackers stormed the village and opened fire on residents, before setting the local market and multiple houses on fire, causing extensive damage.
Niger state police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said security forces had been deployed to the area to restore order and search for those abducted. However, villagers disputed the claim, saying no security personnel had reached the community as of Sunday.
While police put the death toll at 30, residents reported higher numbers. Two villagers said at least 37 people had been killed, adding that the figure could rise further as several residents remained unaccounted for. Some of those abducted were believed to be women and children.
Reverend Father Stephen Kabirat, spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, told local media that the scale of the attack was even more severe. According to him, more than 40 people were killed during the raid, with several others taken away by the gunmen.
Residents said the attackers had been seen in neighbouring communities for nearly a week before the assault, raising concerns over the lack of preventive security measures. Survivors said they were too afraid to return to the village to retrieve the bodies of those killed.
“The bodies are still there in Kasuwan-Daji. Without security presence, how can we go back?” one resident said, adding that the attack lasted close to three hours.
Violence of this kind has become increasingly common in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where armed criminal groups frequently target rural communities with limited security presence. These groups are known for mass killings, kidnappings for ransom and arson.
Saturday’s attack occurred near Papiri community, where more than 300 schoolchildren and teachers were abducted from a Catholic school in November, underlining the persistent insecurity in the area.
Police said the attackers who struck Kasuwan-Daji likely emerged from the National Park Forest in the Kabe district. Authorities have warned that vast, poorly monitored forest reserves in the region have become safe havens for armed groups, allowing them to launch repeated attacks and evade security forces.