Extremists attacked and abducted a number of worshipers in Nigeria’s Niger State, authorities said on Saturday.
Police said the armed men attacked the villages, including Gidan-Zana and Kpenya, before storming the latter village’s mosque during Friday prayers.
“Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group […] in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us,” one survivor told the AFP news agency. “They slaughtered some of our people, saying we are not practicing the true teachings of Islam.”
Local residents told the AFP and Reuters news agencies that dozens of people — as many as 60 — were kidnapped.
Witnesses also told AFP that the armed men killed several people, although according to police, “the developing report indicated that no life was lost.”
Who was responsible for the attack?
Police have not confirmed which group was responsible for Friday’s attack.
One witness told AFP that the gunmen belonged to Lakurawa — an increasingly radical outfit that researchers link to the “Islamic State Sahel Province” group.
Another resident told AFP that the attackers were Ansaru, which split from Boko Haram and is now aligned with al-Qaeda.
Witnesses also said that a third, rival jihadi group known as Mahmuda clashed with the attackers and allowed some of the abductees to escape.
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Although jihadi attacks have declined in Nigeria since the height of Boko Haram’s insurgency last decade, the military and police remain overstretched as they face multiple, sometimes overlapping conflicts.
In addition to jihadist insurgency in the north, parts of Nigeria also face violence and kidnappings from non-ideological gangs known locally as “bandits.”
Edited by: Sean Sinico
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