Gunmen kill at least 10 people in eastern Nigeria, police say

As the country continues to battle banditry and armed groups in a number of parts of Nigeria, gunmen have killed at least 10 individuals in an attack ⁠⁠on a village in eastern Nigeria, police stated.

Key points

• Nigeria has additionally been fighting an armed rebellion since Boko Haram's 2009 uprising.
• According to Amnesty International additionally, while police ⁠had earlier confirmed the killing of 10 individuals, more bodies were recovered afterwards on Saturday.
• Separately, on Saturday, the Nigerian military remarked it had killed 15 "terrorists" in northeastern Borno state in an air strike.
• "After the attackers left, we counted more than 20 bodies, and some people were still missing, " Binnari resident Sa'idu Nuhu informed AFP.
• Malam Abubakar Saifullahi, a community leader, informed AFP that the attackers arrived on concerning 50 motorcycles, two men apiece, before raiding the village.

Nigerian police remarked on Saturday that 10 bodies had been recovered as of Friday evening after a substantial group of gunmen on motorcycles attacked Binnari village in Taraba State. According to police, the attackers additionally looted food from shops.

While human rights group Amnesty International noted in an official note on Saturday that the death toll was 40, survivors informed the AFP news agency that at least 20 residents were killed.

According to Amnesty International additionally, while police ⁠had earlier confirmed the killing of 10 individuals, more bodies were recovered afterwards on Saturday. The gunmen opened fire just after Friday prayers, residents remarked.

Resident Isiyaku Musa additionally provided a death toll of at least 20.

"They looted shops and took cash, foodstuffs and other provisions. They additionally took motorcycles abandoned by residents fleeing the attack, " Saifullahi noted.

Amnesty International criticised the Nigerian authorities, saying they "continue to leave rural communities in some parts of the north at the mercy of gunmen that are repeatedly committing atrocities with impunity".

Banditry has become a growing matter in northwest and central Nigeria, with powerful gangs battling overstretched police and military throughout hard-to-reach, rural locations.

Taraba, a central-eastern state, additionally faces the non-ideological threat of "bandit" gangs.

Bandits raid villages, kidnap individuals for ransom, and levy "taxes" on farmers or miners in rural areas of Nigeria with little state presence.

Taken together, the developments around gunmen kill at least 10 people in eastern Nigeria, police say point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.