Deadly terror attack in Nigeria’s Kwara state kills over 160 people
The attack was confirmed by police, who did not provide casualty figures, and the state government, which blamed terrorist cells.
Unknown gunmen have killed at least 162 people in Nigeria's Kwara state in one of the deadliest attacks in the country in recent months, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
The attack late Tuesday on a village in the west-central state came after the military recently carried out operations in the area against what it called terrorist elements.
The attack was confirmed by police, who did not provide casualty figures, and the state government, which blamed terrorist cells.
Parts of Nigeria are plagued by armed gangs, who loot villages and kidnap for ransom, as well as intercommunal violence in the central states and terrorist groups that are active in the northeast and northwest.
"Reports said that the death toll now stands at 162, as the search for more bodies continues," Babaomo Ayodeji, Kwara state secretary of the ICRC, said, updating an earlier toll of 67.
Earlier, a local lawmaker in the Kaiama region, Sa'idu Baba Ahmed, told AFP that between "35 to 40 dead bodies were counted" from the attack on Tuesday evening.
"Many others escaped into the bush with gunshots," Ahmed said, adding that more bodies could be found.
The gunmen invaded Woro village around 1700 GMT on Tuesday and set "shops and the king's palace ablaze", said Ahmed.
Military campaign
Kwara state governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the attack as "a cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells following the ongoing counterterrorism campaigns in parts of the state".
The Nigerian military has intensified operations against terrorists and armed bandits. The army regularly reports having eliminated huge numbers of terrorists.
Last month, the military said it had launched "sustained coordinated offensive operations against terrorist elements" in Kwara state and achieved notable successes.
Local media reported that the army had "neutralised" 150 terrorists, a term used to mean killed.
"They successfully neutralised terrorists, while others managed to escape into the forest," the army said in a statement on January 30, adding it had cleared their hideouts.
"Troops also stormed remote camps hitherto inaccessible to security forces where several abandoned camps and logistics enablers were destroyed, significantly degrading the terrorists' sustainment capability," it added.
In response to the myriad security woes, authorities in Kwara state imposed curfews in certain areas and closed schools for several weeks before ordering them to reopen on Monday.