{"id":4749,"date":"2026-02-14T20:53:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T20:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/nigeria-dozens-killed-in-attacks-in-niger-state"},"modified":"2026-02-15T00:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T00:43:17","slug":"nigeria-dozens-killed-in-attacks-in-niger-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/nigeria-dozens-killed-in-attacks-in-niger-state","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria: Dozens Killed in Attacks in Niger State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>Agence France-Presse, citing a source in a humanitarian organization, reported on Saturday that at least 46 people were killed in an attack by gunmen on three villages in Niger State in west-central Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>The source told AFP that \u201c38 people were shot or slaughtered\u201d in the village of Kunkuso, while \u201cseven others were killed in Tungan Makiri,\u201d in addition to \u201cone person killed in Bissa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The source added that about 80% of homes in Kunkuso were set on fire during the attack, and that aid teams are working to recover additional bodies from the rubble.<\/p>\n<p>A security report said the attackers arrived on dozens of motorcycles in a coordinated assault targeting the three villages, which fall under the Borgu local government area bordering Kwara State.<\/p>\n<p>Niger State police confirmed an attack on Tungan Makiri. A police spokesperson said gunmen believed to be \u201cbandits\u201d stormed the village in the early hours of the morning, killing six people, burning several houses, and abducting an unspecified number of residents.<\/p>\n<p>The three villages are under Borgu local government, near the Kwara border, where more than 160 people were killed by militants earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>The area is also close to Kainji Forest, which in recent years has become a haven for bandits and armed groups.<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria has faced an insurgency in the northeast for more than 16 years, alongside farmer-herder clashes in the north-central region, separatist violence in the southeast, and a growing threat from \u201ccriminal gangs\u201d in the northwest that has gradually spread into areas once considered safer.<\/p>\n<p>Armed groups are also active in the northwest and west-central regions, driven by worsening insecurity in neighboring countries such as Niger and Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n<p>In November, more than 250 students were abducted from a Catholic boarding school in the town of Baberi in Niger State, before later being released.<\/p>\n<p>Internationally, the United States has criticized what it sees as shortcomings by Nigerian authorities in containing violence, while Abuja has rejected President Donald Trump\u2019s accusations of persecuting Christians and claims of \u201cgenocide,\u201d saying attacks hit Muslims and Christians alike.<\/p>\n<p>In this context, the U.S. military said it carried out airstrikes in coordination with Nigeria in late December, targeting Islamic State-linked elements in the country\u2019s north\u2014an indication of expanding military cooperation between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Africa<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press. Agence France-Presse, citing a source in a humanitarian organization, reported on Saturday that at least 46 people were killed in an attack by gunmen on three villages in Niger State in west-central Nigeria. The source told AFP that \u201c38 people were shot or slaughtered\u201d in the village of Kunkuso, while \u201cseven others were killed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nigeria: Dozens Killed in Attacks in Niger State - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press. 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