Niger mosque attack: Video shows over 600 may have been abducted

A video released by an armed criminal gang showing hundreds of women, crying infants, and elderly men held captive in a thick forest has sent shockwaves through communities in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.

The footage, circulated across social media platforms, according to Reuters report, emerged two days after heavily armed bandits stormed Kpenya Mosque in Dekara district, Niger state during Jumaat prayers, while executing simultaneous raids across neighboring Gidan-Zana and surrounding farming villages.

Local residents who reviewed the footage stated that about 600 people – mostly women and children – were rounded up by the gunmen and marched into the deep forests bordering western Nigeria and the Republic of Benin.

In the video recording, an armed commander speaking in Hausa directly addressed families of the victims, challenging them to identify their relatives among the crowd.

“These are all your people. We are showing you this video so that you can identify your family members, your fathers, mothers, children, and relatives,” the armed assailant declared in the video.

The mass abduction has thrown Dekara and adjacent settlements into mourning and panic, with community leaders pleading for urgent federal and state intervention to secure the safe release of the captives.

Speaking to journalists on Monday, a local resident, Jamilu Ibrahim, expressed profound sorrow over the scale of the kidnapping and the condition of the victims seen in the forest.

“We are appealing directly to both federal and state authorities to step in immediately and rescue these innocent people,” Ibrahim said. “Seeing mothers with small infants and young children sitting on the bare ground in that forest is heartbreaking. Our people are helpless.”

Another youth leader from the area, Zubairu Umar Talba, revealed that his elderly parent was among those taken during the assault on the worship center.

“Nobody can tell you the exact figure offhand because people ran into the bush while others were rounded up, but over 80 people were taken from our immediate axis alone. My 85-year-old father is among those they marched away,” Talba said.

Confirming the initial operational response, the Niger State Police Command spokesperson, SP Wasiu Abiodun, stated that a joint tactical security team was deployed to the terrain to track the assailants and locate the victims.

“A joint security detachment has been deployed to the general area for detailed assessment and rescue operations. We are working around the clock to track the perpetrators and safely retrieve the victims,” Abiodun said.

The Friday prayer raid highlights an alarming expansion of criminal gang operations across north-central and north-western Nigeria, where armed bandits routinely target remote farming communities, highways, and places of worship for ransom.

While early reports from local government authorities estimated that between 60 and 80 worshippers were initially seized directly from the mosque premises, the subsequent release of the video footage by the abductors points to a far broader, multi-community raid.

Pluboard could ‌not ⁠independently verify the authenticity of the video.