{"id":4012,"date":"2026-01-05T01:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/4012\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T01:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T01:27:14","slug":"nigerian-village-raid-leaves-at-least-30-dead-others-abducted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/4012\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian Village Raid Leaves at Least 30 Dead, Others Abducted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">At least 30 villagers were killed, and others were abducted after a group of armed gunmen raided Kasuwan-Daji village in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/nigeria\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nigeria<\/a>\u2019s northern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/niger\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Niger<\/a> state over the weekend, the Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">No specific group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but local law enforcement say it was a group of bandits who arrived from the National Park Forest along the Kabe district\u2014an area known for sheltering gangs, according to the AP.<\/p>\n<p>The Context<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Attacks such as the one that happened over the weekend are common in Africa\u2019s most populous country where rogue gangs looking for control often target remote communities that have limited security and government presence. In November, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/over-300-children-and-12-teachers-kidnapped-in-nigerian-school-attack-11093098\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">hundreds of children and a dozen of teachers were abducted<\/a> from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/school\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">school<\/a> in the Papiri community of Niger state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Nigeria&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/christian\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christian<\/a> communities, in particular, have cited a pattern of persecution, which have been underscored in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/united-states\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United States<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/president\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">President<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/donald-trump\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump<\/a> and rapper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/social-tags-nicki-minaj\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nicki Minaj<\/a> speaking out about the safety of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/christians\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Christians<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">On Christmas Day, Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/maga-reacts-after-donald-trumps-nigeria-strikes-11272111\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ordered a strike<\/a> against the Islamic State (ISIS) group in northwestern Nigeria who he said was &#8220;targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img id=\"11305086\" alt=\"\" caption=\"A general view of the school from which school children were kidnapped by gunmen in Kebbi, Nigeria, Monday, Nov 17, 2025. (AP Photo\/Deeni Jibo)\" captionoverride=\"A general view of the school from which school children were kidnapped by gunmen in Kebbi, Nigeria, on November 17, 2025. (AP Photo\/Deeni Jibo)\" credit=\"\" sourcealt=\"\" sources=\"[]\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"792\" height=\"256\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent;aspect-ratio:1.5015107530066947;object-fit:cover\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/AP25321747413403.jpg\"\/>What To Know<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">The gunmen, referred to locally as bandits, stormed the Kasuwan-Daji village in the Borgu local government area on Saturday evening, according to Niger state police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">The attackers opened fire on residents, burned down the local market, and destroyed several houses. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">&#8220;Over 30 victims lost their lives during the attack, and some persons were also kidnapped. Efforts are ongoing to rescue the kidnapped victims,&#8221; Abiodun said in a statement released Sunday, AP reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Spokesman for the Catholic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/church\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Church<\/a> of Kontagora Diocese where the attack happened, Reverend Father Stephen Kabirat, told local media that more than 40 people were killed and that children were abducted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Meanwhile, witnesses said the assailants rode motorcycles and indiscriminately fired at people. The attack, reportedly lasting up to three hours, left survivors fearful to retrieve some of the victims&#8217; bodies due to the lack of security forces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Borgu is located in the western part of Nigeria, bordering with Benin, and sitting nearly about 350 miles north of Lagos.<\/p>\n<p>What People Are Saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Niger state police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said in statement, per Reuters: \u201cOver 30 victims lost their lives during the attack, and some persons were also kidnapped. Efforts are ongoing to rescue the kidnapped victims.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Witness and victim Dauda Shakulle told Reuters: \u201cWomen and children were not spared. There has been no presence of security forces since the attacks began. We are currently recovering corpses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>What Happens Next<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">With security forces reportedly deployed to the region, authorities said they&#8217;re actively searching for those who were abducted and to locate any survivors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_blockParagraph__I2kr4\">Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least 30 villagers were killed, and others were abducted after a group of armed gunmen raided Kasuwan-Daji&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[1129,1606,3228,750,2802,3226,2931,122,1021,3227,2238,2679],"class_list":{"0":"post-4012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nigeria","8":"tag-christian","9":"tag-christians","10":"tag-church","11":"tag-donald-trump","12":"tag-kidnapping","13":"tag-nicki-minaj","14":"tag-niger","15":"tag-nigeria","16":"tag-president","17":"tag-raids","18":"tag-school","19":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}