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Nigeria: Rebels kidnap dozens during Friday prayers
🇴🇲 Oman /Conflict & Security

Nigeria: Rebels kidnap dozens during Friday prayers

From Times of Oman · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Rebels kidnapped dozens of worshippers during Friday prayers in Niger State, Nigeria.
  • Authorities reported that armed men attacked villages before storming a mosque in Kpenya village.
  • Witnesses described extreme violence, with some reporting people were killed for not practicing "true Islam," though police stated no lives were lost.

Dozens of worshippers were abducted during Friday prayers in Nigeria's Niger State by extremist attackers, authorities confirmed Saturday. The armed assailants targeted several villages in the Borgu Local Government Area before infiltrating a mosque in Kpenya village during the Juma'at prayers.

People were abducted while praying at a Juma'at mosque on Friday.

— Abdullahi Mohammed NasirBorgu area council chair, describing the attack to the Associated Press.

"People were abducted while praying at a Juma'at mosque on Friday," stated Abdullahi Mohammed Nasir, the Borgu area council chair, to the Associated Press. "That was when the bad people came and surrounded the mosque and took them away." Some witnesses recounted scenes of extreme violence, with one survivor telling AFP that the attackers, numbering in the hundreds and armed with guns, knives, and machetes, "slaughtered some of our people, saying we are not practicing the true teachings of Islam."

That was when the bad people came and surrounded the mosque and took them away.

— Abdullahi Mohammed NasirBorgu area council chair, detailing the abduction.

Local residents speaking to AFP and Reuters reported that as many as 60 people were kidnapped. While witnesses also informed AFP that several individuals were killed, police reports indicated that "the developing report indicated that no life was lost." The discrepancy in casualty figures highlights the chaotic and dangerous nature of the attack.

Soon after finishing the normal Friday prayer, the armed group […] in their hundreds, wielding guns, knives and machetes, began to attack us.

— one survivorDescribing the start of the assault to the AFP news agency.

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident, and the culprits have not been identified by the police. However, witnesses suggested the gunmen belonged to the radical outfit Lakurawa, linked to the IS Sahel Province group. Other accounts pointed to Ansaru, a group that split from Boko Haram and is aligned with al-Qaeda. Adding another layer of complexity, witnesses mentioned a rival group, Mahmuda, clashing with the attackers and facilitating the escape of some abductees.

They slaughtered some of our people, saying we are not practicing the true teachings of Islam.

— one survivorRecounting the attackers' stated motives to the AFP news agency.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Times of Oman. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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