Unknown armed terrorists on Saturday, January 3, 2026, executed a coordinated series of attacks on several rural communities in the Agwarra and Borgu Local Government Areas (LGAs), killing at least 42 people and abducting scores of residents, including pupils previously released from captivity at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri.
Residents described days of terror as the gunmen, believed to be terror or bandit groups operating from forest hideouts near Kainji National Park, struck villages with apparent impunity, moving from settlement to settlement while security forces remained largely absent.
“The terrorists killed 37 people in Kasuwan Daji near Papiri, another five in Kaima Village, and abducted many people including children and students who had earlier been freed,” a local source told Sunday Sun.
The latest abductions mark a chilling repeat of an earlier mass kidnapping from the same Catholic mission school in November 2025. At that time, hundreds of pupils and staff from St. Mary’s Private Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools were seized in a nighttime raid, prompting nationwide concern and international condemnation.
According to the local source, some of the children abducted in Saturday’s attacks are among those who had regained their freedom only recently after the earlier assault, deepening anguish among families and communities.
Therefore, eyewitnesses recounted how the gunmen burned down Kasuwan Daji market, looted shops and warehouses, and carried away foodstuffs, abducted women and children, including students of St. Mary’s Schools, and operated in large numbers, moving through villages for more than a week, emerging from the nearby forests to terrorise residents.
These tactics reflect a broader pattern of insecurity in the region, where “terrorists” and criminal bandit groups have increasingly targeted rural populations and soft targets such as schools and markets to abduct victims for ransom and sow fear.
Rev. Fr. Stephen Kabirat, Director of Communications for the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora, confirmed the violence in a statement. He said that more than 40 people were killed during the raids and that several others were taken into captivity.
“Our parish priest narrowly escaped abduction when the attackers stormed the mission house three days ago,” Fr. Kabirat said. “They were searching for the priest, but he managed to escape. Unfortunately, some villagers, including children, were abducted.”
The diocese’s account underscores the unpredictable and lethal threat faced by communities in Niger State, even months after earlier high-profile kidnappings.
Residents and community leaders have appealed urgently for government intervention, expressing alarm at the continued insecurity along river valleys and forest fringes, where armed groups freely traverse and commit attacks.
“Government and security agencies should come to our aid. We have a serious security crisis across the river where some of the students were abducted,” another local source said.
Nigeria has endured a persistent and worsening pattern of school attacks over the past decade, particularly in the North. Among the most notorious prior incidents was the abduction of over 300 schoolchildren from St. Mary’s Catholic School in November 2025, which drew international outcry and prompted condemnations from organisations such as UNESCO, which described attacks on schools as grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian principles.
Security analysts note that insurgent, terrorist, and criminal “bandit” networks have increasingly exploited weak protections to target educational institutions, markets, and villages, creating an environment of fear that disrupts local economies and schooling itself.
While official statements from the Niger State Government and Nigeria’s Federal Government were still awaited at the time of publication, security agencies have been urged to intensify efforts to locate and rescue the abducted villagers and students alike — a grim repeat demand from a community already scarred by violence.
