At least 160 killed in Kwara community as insecurity spreads

Gunmen have killed more than 160 people in a remote community in Kwara state in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in the last one year, local officials said.

The assault occurred late Tuesday in Woro village, in Kaiama local government area, according to local officials and humanitarian workers. The Red Cross said the death toll had risen sharply as search teams recovered more bodies, warning that the number could still increase.

“Reports now indicate that at least 162 people have been killed, and the search is ongoing,” said Babaomo Ayodeji, the Kwara state secretary of the Red Cross, according to the AFP. A local lawmaker told Reuters the toll may be closer to 170.

Police confirmed the attack but declined to release casualty figures. The Kwara state government blamed what it described as terrorist cells, saying the assault appeared to be retaliation for recent military raids in the area.

Residents said the attackers stormed Woro around early evening, firing indiscriminately and setting buildings ablaze, including shops and the palace of the traditional ruler. Several villagers fled into surrounding bushland, some with gunshot wounds, according to a local legislator, Sa’idu Baba Ahmed.

The whereabouts of the village’s traditional ruler, Alhaji Salihu Umar, remained unclear as of Wednesday, raising fears he may have been abducted or killed.

Security forces have been deployed to the area for search-and-rescue operations, police said.

Attack Follows Military Operations

The killings come after the Nigerian military announced it had launched “sustained coordinated offensive operations” against armed groups in parts of Kwara state, an area that until recently was considered relatively insulated from the worst of Nigeria’s insecurity.

In January, the army said it had “neutralised” scores of fighters, destroyed camps and dismantled logistics networks used by armed groups operating from forested border regions linking Kwara with neighbouring states.

Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the latest attack, describing it as “a cowardly expression of frustration” by armed groups responding to increased military pressure.

Authorities had earlier imposed curfews and temporarily shut schools in some districts following earlier violence, reopening them only this week.

Nigeria has battled multiple, overlapping security crises for more than a decade, including jihadist insurgencies in the northeast, banditry and mass kidnappings in the northwest, and ethnoreligious killings in the Middle Belt.

The escalating bloodshed has drawn heightened international scrutiny. The United States confirmed on Tuesday that it has deployed a small number of troops to Nigeria to support local forces. The U.S. personnel are believed to be providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, rather than engaging in combat.

Nigeria’s security situation has also become politically charged abroad after U.S. President Donald Trump accused Nigeria of failing to protect Christians.