Armed men kidnap dozens in attacks on Nigerian villages

By AFP and Reuters. Published On 22 Aug 202622 Aug 2026.

Key points

• Armed men have kidnapped dozens of individuals during an attack on a mosque and surrounding villages in Nigeria's central Niger State, survivors and police office-holders say.
• Local residents informed Reuters that more than 60 worshippers were kidnapped, but the figure could not be independently verified.
• Jibril Ahmad, a survivor of the assault on Dekara, blamed members of the Lakurawa armed group.
• Federal lawmaker Jafaru Mohammed informed AFP that a number of nearby villages were additionally struck.
• "Some members of the Mahmuda group were against the doctrine of the Lakurawa, and when they heard of what the Lakurawa were doing, they fought them, " Mohammed remarked.

After first attacking the villages of Gidan-Zana and Kpenya, police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun stated on Saturday, the raiders stormed Kpenya Mosque in the Dekara district of Borgu Local Administration Area at around 2pm (13: 00 GMT) on Friday.

Abiodun informed the Reuters news agency that police were aware of the kidnappings but had not received reports of anyone being killed, and that a "joint security detachment has been deployed to the area for assessment and rescue operations".

He remarked police could not yet confirm the number of residents who were taken.

Separately, residents informed the AFP news agency that residents were additionally killed, another claim that could not immediately be confirmed.

"Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group of Lakurawa, in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us, " Ahmad informed AFP, claiming that residents were "slaughtered".

During the attack, a third group, Mahmuda, intervened and clashed with the kidnappers, allowing some abductees to escape, he remarked.

Meanwhile, the attack unfolded in a region near Nigeria's western border with Benin that has seen growing activity from local armed groups and fighters from the neighbouring region, even as the country's 17-year armed rebellion remains concentrated in the northeast.

Notably, the violence in Niger State continued into Saturday. Resident Abdullahi Ahmad remarked the group returned to the area to seize more residents as a "bargaining chip" in advance of an projected troop deployment, and planted landmines on the road out of Dekara.

"A man and his family who were fleeing the town yesterday were killed when their car hit a landmine planted by the terrorists. Everyone is living in fear, " he remarked.

Mass abductions have been a hallmark tactic of the country's armed groups and have evolved into a lucrative, multimillion-dollar industry involving networks of both ideological and nonideological gangs throughout Nigeria's northwest and central regions.

Taken together, the developments around armed men kidnap dozens in attacks on Nigerian villages point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.