Islamic militants kill 162 people in attacks on 2 villages in Nigeria, lawmaker says

Nigeria police officers stand guard during a candle light procession in honour of all protesters killed nationwide at the recently economic hardship protest, in Lagos, Nigeria, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

SOKOTO, Nigeria -- Armed extremists killed at least 162 people during attacks on two villages in western Nigeria, a lawmaker said Wednesday, in one of the deadliest assaults in recent months. One rights group estimated the death toll could be higher.

The attacks targeted the villages of Woro and Nuku, in the state of Kwara, on Tuesday evening, Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area, told The Associated Press.

He said the attacks were carried out by the Lakurawa, an armed group affiliated with the Islamic State group. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Ayodeji Emmanuel Babaomo, the Red Cross secretary in Kwara state, said the organization has been unable to reach the communities where “scores of people were killed” because they are in a remote area -- about eight hours from the state capital and near Nigeria’s border with Benin.

Footage from the scene on local television show bodies lying in blood on the ground, some with their hands tied, as well as burning houses.

Amnesty International said in a statement the gunmen killed over 170 people, razed homes and looted shops.

“The security lapses that enabled these attack are unacceptable,” the rights group said, adding that the gunmen had been sending “warning” letters to the villagers for more than five months.

State governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq described the attack as a “cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells” in response to ongoing military operations against armed extremists in the state.

Nigeria is in the grip of a complex security crisis, with an insurgency by Islamic militants in the northeast alongside a surge in kidnappings for ransom by gunmen across the northwest and north-central regions over recent months.

Separately on Tuesday, unknown gunmen killed at least 13 people in the village of Doma, in the northwestern state of Katsina, police spokesman Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack,

Boko Haram extremists in northeastern Nigeria killed at least 36 people last week during separate attacks on a construction site and on an army base.

The armed groups in Nigeria include at least two affiliated with IS, an offshoot of the Boko Haram extremist group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP), known locally as Lakurawa, and prominent in the northwest.

The Nigerian military has said in the past that the Lakurawa has roots in neighboring Niger and that it became more active in Nigeria’s border communities following a 2023 military coup.

James Barnett, a researcher at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, said the attack in Kwara state was most likely perpetrated by the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, a Boko Haram faction that has been responsible for other recent massacres in the area.

On Tuesday, the head of U.S. Africa Command said the United States had sent a small team of military officers to Nigeria, the latest step in its response to the security crisis. In December, U.S. forces launched airstrikes on IS-affiliated militants in Nigeria.

Africa’s most populous country has been in the diplomatic crosshairs of the U.S. following threats by U.S. President Donald Trump to attack the country, alleging it is not doing enough to protect its Christian citizens.

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By Tunde Omolehin and Dyepkazah Shibayan

Shibayan reported from Abuja, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Afolabi Sotunde contributed to this report.