Gunmen attacked a village in northern Nigeria, resulting in at least 30 deaths and the abduction of several people, including children.
Foreign news agencies reported that gunmen attacked a village in Niger State in northern Nigeria, killing at least 30 villagers and abducting or causing several others to go missing, marking the latest bloody incident in this conflict-ridden region.
Wasiu Abiodun, a police spokesman for the state, said in a statement that gunmen attacked Kasuwan-Daji village in the Borgu administrative district on the evening of Saturday, 3 Jan 2026, opening fire on residents. They also burned the local market and several homes to the ground.
At least two villagers said on Sunday that the death toll had risen to 37 and could be much higher as many were still missing. Another group of villagers said security forces had not yet arrived, contradicting police claims that officers had been dispatched to search for the abducted.
Stephen Kabirat, a spokesman for the Catholic Church in the Kontagora Diocese where the attack occurred, told local media that the gunmen had killed more than 40 people and abducted many others, including children.
Meanwhile, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu condemned the attack and said he had ordered security forces to swiftly pursue the gunmen and rescue the hostages.
Such attacks happen frequently in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, where numerous outlaw gangs vie for control of local governance, targeting remote communities where security and state authority are weak or absent.
Kasuwan-Daji village is near the Papiri community, which was the site of a kidnapping in November when over 300 students and their teachers were abducted from a Catholic school.
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Source:apnews