More than 160 people were killed in attacks on two villages in western Nigeria in what local officials called the deadliest armed assaults in the country this year. The assaults on Woro and Nuku in Kwara state left a death toll of 162 on Wednesday afternoon, Mohammed Omar Bio, the member of parliament representing the area, told reporters. Amnesty International put the toll at more than 170 and said homes were razed and shops looted.
Witnesses and officials said gunmen rounded up residents, bound their hands and shot them, then burned buildings. Sa’idu Baba Ahmed, a politician in the Kaiama region, said many victims were being sorted in the village while security forces combed surrounding areas; some survivors fled into bushland with gunshot wounds and the village’s traditional king was among those unaccounted for. Residents told Reuters the attackers were jihadists who had preached locally and demanded villagers abandon allegiance to the state in favour of sharia. When villagers resisted during a sermon, the militants opened fire, they said.
Bio and others identified the assailants as the Lakurawa, a local name for an Islamic State-affiliated group also called the Islamic State Sahel Province; no group has formally claimed responsibility. Amnesty said the gunmen had issued “warning” letters to villagers for more than five months and criticised security lapses that enabled the massacre.
Kwara governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the killings as “a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells” responding to recent counter‑terrorism campaigns. Kwara borders Niger state, where armed groups have increased activity; the military says the Lakurawa traces roots to Niger and grew more active in Nigeria’s border communities after a 2023 coup.
The attacks came amid wider security crises across Nigeria: a jihadist insurgency in the north-east, banditry and mass kidnappings in the north-west and north-central regions, and intercommunal violence in central states. Two IS‑linked groups operate in Nigeria: Islamic State West Africa Province (an offshoot of Boko Haram) in the north-east, and the Lakurawa in the north-west.
Separately on Tuesday, gunmen killed at least 13 people in Doma village in the Faskari area of Katsina state. Last week, attackers in the north-east killed at least 36 people in separate strikes on a construction site and an army base.
The military has stepped up operations and regularly reports killing large numbers of fighters. Local media quoted an army claim of neutralising about 150 militants during recent operations and destroying remote camps and logistics enablers in Kwara. Authorities have imposed curfews and temporarily closed schools in parts of the state.
The violence has drawn international attention. Gen Dagvin Anderson, head of US Africa Command, said the US had deployed a small military team to Nigeria and agreed to “increase collaboration.” The controversy over US comments this year alleging a “genocide” against Christians in Nigeria has been rejected by the Nigerian government and many experts, who say victims of the country’s insecurity include both Christians and Muslims.
Agence France‑Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
