Gunmen launched a deadly assault on two villages in Nigeria’s Niger state, leaving at least 20 people dead and taking an unknown number of hostages, according to police officials and local residents who spoke out Tuesday evening.
The coordinated strikes targeted the communities of Bagna and Erena in Niger’s Shiroro district, an area where criminal gangs and Islamic extremist groups frequently conduct operations. State police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun confirmed that attackers stormed both settlements on Tuesday, resulting in the deaths of two local security guards and a driver when authorities attempted to respond to the crisis.
However, community members painted a far more devastating picture of the violence. Residents reported that the death toll reached at least 20 individuals, with the assailants also setting fire to residential buildings during their multi-hour occupation of the area. The attackers reportedly overpowered local security forces who tried to intervene.
Many survivors escaped to the neighboring communities of Gwada Zumba and Galadima Kogo as the violence unfolded, according to witness accounts. The incident represents another chapter in the ongoing security crisis that has become Nigeria’s most pressing challenge.
President Bola Tinubu has been advocating for legislation that would permit Nigeria’s 36 individual states to create their own police departments as a strategy to combat the escalating violence throughout the nation.
