Gunmen kidnapped dozens of people in a series of attacks targeting a mosque and surrounding villages in Niger State, central Nigeria, according to surviving witnesses and police officials.
Police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said the attackers stormed the Kpenya mosque in the Dekara area of Borgu local government at around 2 p.m. on Friday (1 p.m. GMT), after earlier attacking the villages of Gidan-Zana and Kpenya.
Abiodun told Reuters that police were aware of the abductions but had no reports of fatalities. He added that a joint security force had been deployed to assess the situation and conduct rescue operations.
Police could not confirm the number of people kidnapped. Local residents told Reuters that more than 60 worshippers had been taken, although the figure could not be independently verified. Other residents told AFP that some people had been killed in the attacks, but this claim also could not be immediately confirmed.
A survivor named Jibril Ahmad blamed the armed group Lakurawa. He recounted: “Right after the usual Friday prayers, the Lakurawa armed group, numbering in the hundreds, armed with guns, knives, and machetes, began attacking us.” Ahmad alleged that many people had been “killed.”
During the attack, a third group called Mahmuda intervened and clashed with the kidnappers, helping some hostages escape. Federal lawmaker Jafaru Mohammed said several neighboring villages were also attacked.
The incident occurred near Nigeria’s western border with Benin, where activity by local armed groups and gunmen from nearby regions has been increasing, while the country’s 17-year insurgency remains concentrated mainly in the northeast.
Violence in Niger State continued into Saturday. A resident named Abdullahi Ahmad said the armed group returned to the area to capture more people as “bargaining chips” before the military was deployed, and planted landmines on roads out of Dekara. He recounted: “A man and his family fleeing the town yesterday were killed when their car hit a landmine planted by the terrorists. Everyone is living in fear.”
Mass kidnappings have long been a signature tactic of armed groups in Nigeria, evolving into a multi-million dollar industry with networks of both ideological and non-ideological gangs in the country’s northwest and central regions.
