Gunmen kill nearly 200 in Nigeria’s Kwara and Katsina states

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - ABUJA — Nearly 200 people have been killed by armed men in separate attacks in remote villages in central and northern Nigeria, residents and police said on Wednesday, as security forces searched for survivors and chased the attackers.

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In central Kwara state, gunmen attacked the community of Woro on Tuesday, leaving at least 170 people dead, the lawmaker for the area, Saidu Baba Ahmed, said by phone.

A Red Cross official in Kwara, Babaomo Ayodeji, told AFP that "reports said that the death toll now stands at 162, as the search for more bodies continues".

Amnesty International said in a statement that over 170 people had died, noting many were shot at close range and some burnt alive.

Several people were abducted in the attack that was undertaken in a "stunning absence of any form of security for the protection of lives", the human rights group said while calling for an investigation.

It was the deadliest assault recorded this year in the district bordering Niger state, an area increasingly targeted by gunmen who raid villages, kidnap residents and loot livestock.

Ahmed said the gunmen rounded up residents, bound their hands behind their backs and summarily executed them. The lawmaker shared photographs of dead bodies with Reuters, which the agency was not immediately able to verify.

Villagers fled into surrounding bushland during the attack, he said. The gunmen torched homes and shops.

Police said that “scores were killed,” without specifying the number.

“As I’m speaking to you now, I’m in the village along with military personnel, sorting dead bodies and combing the surrounding areas for more,” Ahmed said.

Several people were still missing on Wednesday morning, he said.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu said the militant group Boko Haram was behind the attack. Local lawmaker Mohammed Omar Bio said Lakurawa, an armed group affiliated with Islamic State, was responsible, according to the Associated Press.

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said 75 local Muslims "were massacred in cold blood simply for refusing to surrender to extremists who preached a strange doctrine".

Kwara police spokesperson Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi said the police and military have been mobilized to the area for a search-and-rescue operation, but declined to provide casualty details.

In a separate attack in northern Katsina state, gunmen killed at least 21 people, moving from house to house to shoot their victims, residents and local police said.

The attack broke a six-month peace pact between the community and the armed gang.

It also highlighted the dilemma faced by residents in Nigeria’s remote north, where some have sought peace with armed gangs that terrorize them. Residents typically pool money and food, which they give to bandits so they are not attacked.

The attacks come alongside the first official acknowledgement from Nigeria of an American troop presence since US President Donald Trump ordered the military in November to prepare for action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups.

Defense Minister Chrisopher Musa did not provide details on the team's size, arrival date, location or duration of stay. — Agencies