Gunmen kill nearly 200 people in Nigeria’s Kwara and Katsina states

Gunmen have killed nearly 200 people in western and northern Nigeria, officials and residents say, as survivors buried the dead and security forces hunted the attackers.

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced the deployment of an army battalion to the western state of Kwara, after gunmen stormed the community of Woro on Tuesday evening, killing at least 170 people. A further 21 people were killed in a separate attack in the city of Katsina in northern Nigeria, with gunmen murdering people as they moved from house to house.

In a statement published on social media late on Wednesday, Tinubu said the military command would spearhead the effort, codenamed Operation Savannah Shield, “to checkmate the barbaric terrorists and protect defenceless communities”.

He condemned the attack as “cowardly and barbaric”, saying the gunmen targeted villagers who had rejected attempts to impose hardline rule.

“It is commendable that community members, even ‌though Muslims, refused to be conscripted into a belief that promotes violence over peace,” Tinubu said in a ‌statement.

Although no group has claimed responsibility, residents told the Reuters news agency the attackers were religious hardliners who had long preached in the village, urging locals to abandon the Nigerian state.

The state government blamed “terrorist cells”, and Tinubu and locals blamed the attack on Boko Haram.

The killings in Kwara marked the deadliest attack recorded in the region in recent months.

The attack followed recent military operations in the area against what authorities called “terrorist elements”.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the Nigerian capital Abuja, said such killings repeatedly take place in Nigeria “whenever there is increased military activity in areas where these armed groups are strong”.

They come amid a complex security crisis in Nigeria, with violent groups linked to Boko Haram and the ISIL (ISIS) group in the northeast, alongside a surge in kidnappings for ransom by gunmen across the northwest and north-central regions over recent months.

Kwara police spokesperson Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi said the ‌police and military have been mobilised to the ⁠area for a search-and-rescue operation for the wounded and any residents who may have been abducted by the attackers.

‘Unacceptable’ security lapses

Saidu Baba Ahmed, a Kwara State lawmaker for the area, told Reuters that the gunmen rounded up residents, bound their hands behind their backs and killed them.

Villagers fled into the surrounding bushland during the attack, while the attackers went on to torch homes and shops, he said.

Footage from Woro on local television shows bodies lying in blood on the ground, some with their hands tied, as well as burning houses.

“The security lapses that enabled these attacks are unacceptable,” rights group Amnesty International said, adding that the gunmen – who also razed homes and looted shops – had been sending “warning” letters to the villagers for more than five months.

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq described the attack as a “cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells” in response to ongoing military operations against armed groups in the state.

The military said last month that it had launched “sustained coordinated offensive operations against terrorist elements” and achieved notable successes. According to local media, the military killed at least 150 fighters in the operation.

‘He begged for his life’

In Katsina, meanwhile, residents and police said ‌gunmen killed at least 21 people on Tuesday, moving from house to house to shoot their victims.

Katsina resident Rumatu Muhammed said her son was among those killed.

“He begged for his life, but they refused, saying no man would be spared,” she said. “They went ahead and killed him.

“We don’t know the men who raided us,” she added. “We just heard gunshots as they raided our home.”

The attack broke a six-month peace pact ‌between the community and the armed gang.

It also highlighted the dilemma faced ⁠by residents in Nigeria’s remote north, where some have sought peace with armed gangs that terrorise them. Residents typically pool money and food, which they give to bandits so they are not attacked.

Kabir Adamu, a security analyst at the Abuja-based Beacon Security and Intelligence, said the response from the Nigerian security forces has been insufficient to contain armed groups across the region.

“In simple terms, [the attacks] say more is required,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The operations have been effective in killing some of the bandit commanders. We also know some of their leaders have been arrested, and they are currently being prosecuted. But the law enforcement component that would dominate the environment and prevent this group from moving around and operating is missing,” he said.

Nigeria is also under pressure to restore security since United States President Donald Trump accused ‌it last year of failing to protect Christians. Authorities, however, denied there is systematic persecution of Christians, while independent experts say Nigeria’s security crises kill both Christians and Muslims, often without distinction.

Nigeria’s government, meanwhile, has stepped up cooperation with Washington to improve security.

In late December, US forces struck what they described as “terrorist” targets in Nigeria, and on Tuesday, the US military said it sent a small team of officers to the country to assist in the response to the security crisis.