At least 167 people have been killed by gunmen in attacks on two villages in a rural part of Nigeria, according to the Nigerian branch of the Red Cross.
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The attack was one of the deadliest in recent years in a country racked by violence, including terrorism, kidnappings for ransom, and insurgency.
The particulars of the assault on the villages of Woro and Nuku, in the central-western state of Kwara, are still being pieced together by officials, aid workers and residents. No group has claimed responsibility for it.
The Kwara state government, in a post on social media, confirmed the attack but did not provide details about the assailants or the death toll, including the victims’ religion.
More than 100 people were killed after unknown gunmen attacked two villages in Nigeria’s central Kwara State late Tuesday, local sources said Wednesday.
The unidentified gunmen attacked the Woro and Nuku communities of Kaiama Local Government Area late Tuesday and returned early Wednesday, wreaking havoc by shooting indiscriminately at residents, while also razing some houses.
The death toll had risen to about 67 earlier in the day but surged to over 100 by Wednesday afternoon after the gunmen launched a second attack, taking advantage of poor road conditions, an official with the Nigerian Red Cross Society said.
A Red Cross official in Kwara State, Babaomo Ayodeji, said that the search for bodies was still underway, and that “the death toll has risen to 167.”
Survivors and local hunters launched search-and-rescue operations Wednesday ahead of the arrival of state security forces.
A police spokeswoman said security agencies were still gathering information, and could not yet confirm how many people had been killed.
“Many houses were burned,” said the spokeswoman, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi. “The exact number of casualties is yet to be confirmed, but many people were injured.”
One resident of Woro, Muhammad Kazeem, said he had been on his way home from work when the attack took place. As he hid, he said, the attackers carried out executions and set fire to homes, shops and the palace of the emir, a local king.
Only when the gunmen had gone did he emerge from hiding, Mr. Kazeem said. Then he and other men from the community began to gather the dead.
“At around 9 p.m., we counted between 35 and 40 bodies,” Mr. Kazeem said.
The governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, said in a statement that the attack was “a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells following the ongoing counterterrorism campaigns in parts of the state.”
The Kwara state government condemned the killings on Wednesday, describing them as “a desperate response by terrorist groups to ongoing security operations.”
Kwara State Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq extended condolences to the victims’ families and assured residents that security agencies had been directed to intensify operations in the area.
In recent years, bandits and jihadist groups have moved into a national park in the state, levying taxes on farming and fishing communities and kidnapping people.
Nearby communities have been rocked by killings and kidnappings, including the abduction — and later release — of 253 children from a Catholic boarding school last November.
But the scale of the killings in Tuesday’s attack is unheard-of in the area, analysts said.
Some analysts and residents said the gunmen were likely members of a faction of Boko Haram, the terrorist group that has destabilized Nigeria’s northeast.
Nigeria has recently been under intense scrutiny from Washington over the killings of Christians, following a campaign by American conservatives, celebrities and Republican lawmakers seeking American intervention in Africa’s most populous country.
On Christmas Day, the U.S. military bombed a northwestern state in Nigeria where President Trump said Islamic State terrorists had been “targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.”
And on Tuesday, the head of U.S. Africa Command said the United States had sent a small team of military officers to Nigeria.
Though there is no reliable data breaking down the number of killings in Nigeria by religion, most analysts say that the insecurity and chronic impunity puts both Christian and Muslim lives in danger. And Kwara State is home to many Muslims and Christians.
Meanwhile, the Kogi State Government has temporarily closed schools across the state as a precautionary measure, citing credible intelligence and the need to safeguard pupils, students, and teachers.
Speaking to journalists in Lokoja on Tuesday, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, said the decision “was not borne out of panic, but of responsibility,” stressing that the government chose to act proactively rather than wait for avoidable incidents.
“Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo has directed all relevant agencies to immediately deploy necessary modalities to ensure that schools resume academic activities as soon as it is safe, so as not to disrupt the state’s academic calendar,” he added.
Fanwo commended security agencies for their timely and actionable intelligence, noting that such cooperation underscores the effectiveness of the state’s security architecture.
He reassured residents that the government is fully on top of the situation, adding that security agencies are already working round the clock to identify, locate, and decisively deal with criminal hideouts.
“The safety of our children, teachers, and educational institutions remains non-negotiable. This administration will always prioritise lives while ensuring continuity in governance and education,” Fanwo said.
Meanwhile, a message from the Kogi State Chairman of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Pastor Reuben Jimoh, directed members to fast-forward the midterm break in line with the emergency school closure.
“The midterm break for school has been fast-forwarded and we shall be resuming back on 16/02/2026. Therefore, there will be no school tomorrow until 16th/02/2026. No school should go against this adjustment,” Jimoh said.
The closure in Kogi comes amid similar preventive actions in Kebbi and Kwara states, where schools were shut following bandit attacks on schools and churches. In those states, schools were reopened weeks after the temporary closures.
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