Gunmen kidnap dozens after attacking mosque and villages in Nigerias Niger State

Armed men kidnapped dozens of people during attacks on a mosque and surrounding villages in Nigeria’s central Niger State on Friday, according to survivors, police, and local officials.

The raiders stormed Kpenya Mosque in the Dekara district of Borgu Local Government Area at around 2 p.m. (13:00 GMT) after first targeting the villages of Gidan-Zana and Kpenya, police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun told Reuters on Saturday. Abiodun said authorities were aware of the kidnappings but had not confirmed any deaths, adding that a joint security detachment had been deployed for rescue operations. He did not provide a precise number of abductees.

Local residents estimated more than 60 worshippers were taken, though the figure could not be independently verified. Some survivors and a federal lawmaker, Jafaru Mohammed, told AFP that people were also killed during the assault. Jibril Ahmad, a survivor, blamed the Lakurawa armed group, describing how hundreds of attackers armed with guns, knives, and machetes stormed the mosque after Friday prayers. “Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group of Lakurawa, in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us,” Ahmad said, claiming some were “slaughtered.”

A rival group, Mahmuda, intervened and clashed with the kidnappers, allowing some abductees to escape, according to Ahmad and Mohammed. The violence continued into Saturday, with residents reporting the attackers returned to seize more people and planted landmines on roads out of Dekara.

Borgu area council chairman Abdullahi Mohammed Nasir said at least 60 people were kidnapped, with an unspecified number injured by gunfire while fleeing. Zubairu Umar Talba, a local youth leader, told The Associated Press his 85-year-old father was among those abducted, estimating around 80 people were taken in total.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Police described the assailants as criminals in military clothing, according to BBC reporting, and said mass kidnappings for ransom are common in parts of Nigeria. Earlier in August, Nigerian authorities said they rescued over 300 kidnapped people in what they called the largest single-day operation of its kind .

The attacks occurred in a region near Nigeria’s western border with Benin, where armed groups and fighters from neighboring areas have increased activity in recent years.