At Least 30 Casualties in Devastating Attack on Nigerian Village

Tue Feb 03 2026 07:05:08 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

A brutal raid on the village of Kasuwan-Daji in Niger state results in at least 30 deaths, amid a rising tide of violent attacks in Nigeria.

Armed assailants launched a violent attack on a village in Niger state, Nigeria, killing at least 30 individuals and displacing many others. The attack, which involved looting and arson, has heightened fears among locals, who are increasingly left feeling vulnerable and abandoned by the authorities. This incident marks a continuation of escalating violence in the region attributed to armed groups.

Armed men have violently stormed a village in Nigeria's Niger state, killing at least 30 people and looting shops, state authorities have said.

The attackers emerged from a forest near the village of Kasuwan-Daji on Saturday and set fire to the local market, looted shops, and kidnapped an unspecified number of people, police reported.

The gunmen entered the town on motorcycles carrying weapons, rounded up people and then proceeded to slaughter them, while others were shot dead, a local journalist told the BBC's Hausa service.

Attacks and kidnappings by armed criminal gangs, known as bandits, have been a problem in Nigeria for years, but reports in western and central regions have spiked recently.

Abdullahi Rofia, an official with the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, confirmed the journalist's report that villagers were rounded up and killed.

He said people in the community were terrified: They are hiding, they are too afraid to talk to anybody. Rofia described how individuals were scared that speaking out could lead to similar violence against them.

Niger state police spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, reported that an emergency team has been deployed to assist the injured and that security forces are working to rescue the kidnapped victims.

While payments to criminal groups have been classified as illegal by the government—ranking these groups as terrorists—eyewitness accounts suggest that such measures are often bypassed.

The attack highlights a growing fear in rural Nigerian communities, as violence forces residents from their homes where they have lived for generations. One victim lamented, We are dying like chickens, and does the government care about us? expressing frustrations over the government's perceived inaction regarding their plight.

This incident comes just a day after Niger state authorities announced the phased reopening of schools, following a mass kidnapping in November that had forced school closures. More than 250 students and staff at a Catholic school were abducted, which remains one of Nigeria's most alarming incidents of school kidnappings.