According to the latest reports, gunmen have allegedly killed at least 162 people in Nigeria’s Kwara state, marking one of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent months, a Red Cross official stated on Wednesday.
The assault, which took place late Tuesday on a village in the west-central state, followed recent military operations in the area targeting what authorities described as “terrorist elements.”
Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq confirmed that 75 individuals had perished.
He disclosed this figure on Wednesday night while addressing residents at the Emir of Kaiama’s palace, explaining that the victims were “local Muslims massacred for refusing to surrender to extremists preaching a strange doctrine.”
The governor revealed that President Tinubu had sanctioned the immediate deployment of an army battalion under Operation Savannah Shield to conduct counter-offensives against the assailants.
Various parts of Nigeria suffer from armed gangs known as bandits—who loot villages and kidnap for ransom—as well as intercommunal violence in central states and jihadist groups operating in the northeast and northwest.
“Reports indicated that the death toll now stands at 162, as the search for additional bodies continues,” said Babaomo Ayodeji, Kwara state secretary of the Red Cross, updating an earlier tally of 67.
Earlier, a local lawmaker from the Kaiama region, Sa’idu Baba Ahmed, informed AFP that between “35 to 40 dead bodies were counted” following Tuesday evening’s attack.
The assault was confirmed by police, who did not provide casualty figures, and the state government, which attributed the violence to “terrorist cells.”
“Many others fled into the bush amidst gunfire,” Ahmed noted, adding that more bodies could still be discovered.
The gunmen invaded Woro village around 6:00 pm (1700 GMT) on Tuesday, setting fire to “shops and the king’s palace,” according to Ahmed.
In a separate attack occurring in northern Katsina state on the same day, suspected bandits killed 23 civilians in what appeared to be reprisal attacks for recent military operations that resulted in the deaths of 27 “militants” at the hands of the airforce, per a security report prepared for the United Nations.
In Woro, Ahmed stated that the traditional king’s whereabouts remained unknown. The king was identified by the Red Cross official as Alhaji Salihu Umar.
Kwara state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the massacre as “a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells following the ongoing counterterrorism campaigns in parts of the state.”
The Nigerian military has heightened operations against jihadists and armed bandits, frequently claiming to have eliminated significant numbers of fighters.
Last month, the military announced it had initiated “sustained coordinated offensive operations against terrorist elements” in Kwara state, achieving notable successes.
Local media reported that the army had “neutralised” 150 bandits, a term commonly used to indicate they were killed.
“They successfully neutralised… terrorists, while others managed to escape into the forest,” the army declared in a statement on January 30, noting that their hideouts had been cleared.
“Troops also stormed remote camps previously inaccessible to security forces, where several abandoned camps and logistical enablers were destroyed, significantly degrading the terrorists’ sustainment capability,” it added.
Jihadist attacks escalated last year, with the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claiming responsibility for its first attack in Nigeria, specifically in Kwara state, last year.
Researcher and analyst Brant Philip pointed out that the latest raid occurred just four kilometers (two miles) from the location where JNIM launched an attack last October, suggesting a “direct overlap” in the operational zones of JNIM and Boko Haram, with both groups seemingly having formed a “loose alliance.”
