Jihadists from the Lakuwara group attacked Dikera village in Niger State, central Nigeria, during Friday prayers, killing and kidnapping scores of people. Survivors report the armed group targeted them for not following their strict beliefs, while some captives escaped during a clash with rival militants.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is battling a 17-year insurgency by jihadist groups, which have made mass abductions a key tactic — including the 2014 kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls in the town of Chibok.
The insurgency is concentrated in the northeast, though Friday’s attack was near the western border with Benin, an area that has seen increased activity by local armed groups and militants from the neighbouring Sahel as the conflict has splintered.
“Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group of Lakuwara, in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us,” said Jibril Ahmad, who survived the attack on Dikera village, in the Borgu local government area.
“They slaughtered some of our people, saying we are not practicing the true teachings of Islam,” Ahmad said.
