Gunmen have killed 162 people in west Nigeria attack, says Red Cross official

Source: The Guardian

More than 160 people have been killed in a village in western Nigeria in the country’s deadliest armed assault so far this year, an aid official and a local politician have said, as communities reel from repeated, widespread acts of violence perpetrated by armed gangs and jihadists.

The death toll from Tuesday’s attack in Woro in Kwara state stood at 162 on Wednesday afternoon, according to Babaomo Ayodeji, the Kwara state secretary of the Red Cross.

Sa’idu Baba Ahmed, a politician in the Kaiama region, told Reuters gunmen had rounded up residents, bound their hands behind their backs and killed them. The attackers also torched homes and shops. “As I’m speaking to you now, I’m in the village along with military personnel, sorting dead bodies and combing the surrounding areas for more,” Ahmed said, putting the toll at 170.
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Residents told Reuters the gunmen were jihadists who often preached in the village and that they demanded that locals ditch their allegiance to the Nigerian state and switch to Sharia, Islamic law. When the villagers pushed back, the militants opened fire during Tuesday’s sermon, the residents said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/04/gunmen-west-nigeria-attack-red-cross