More than 160 people have been killed in attacks on two villages in Kwara state, western Nigeria, in the country's deadliest armed assaults this year. The death toll from Tuesday's assaults in Woro and Nuku stood at 162 on Wednesday afternoon, according to Mohammed Omar Bio, a local member of parliament.
Gunmen rounded up residents, bound their hands behind their backs and shot them, said Sa'idu Baba Ahmed, a politician in the Kaiama region. The attackers also set fire to homes and shops. Many people fled into surrounding bushland with gunshot wounds, and the whereabouts of several individuals, including the village's traditional king, remain unknown.
Residents told Reuters that the gunmen were jihadists who had preached in the village and demanded locals switch allegiance from the Nigerian state to sharia law. When the villagers refused, the militants opened fire during a sermon. The Lakurawa, an armed group affiliated with Islamic State, is blamed for the attack, although no group has claimed responsibility.
Amnesty International reported that the gunmen killed more than 170 people, razed homes and looted shops, calling the security lapses 'unacceptable'. The group noted that the attackers had been sending warning letters to villagers for over five months. Kwara state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the attack as 'a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells' following counter-terrorism campaigns.
Nigeria faces multiple security crises, including a jihadist insurgency in the north-east and north-west, and a surge in banditry. In a separate attack on Tuesday, gunmen killed at least 13 people in Katsina state, despite peace deals brokered with armed groups. The military has intensified operations, claiming to have killed 150 people in Kwara last month.
