Nigeria : des dizaines de civils tués et enlevés par des jihadistes dans le centre-ouest du pays
Jihadists abducted and killed dozens of people in an attack during Friday prayers in Niger State, in west-central Nigeria, a local resident and a member of parliament who escaped told AFP on Saturday.
"Shortly after the end of the usual Friday prayer, the armed group of Lakuwara, consisting of several hundred men armed with rifles, knives and machetes, began to attack us," said Jibril Ahmad, who survived the attack on the village of Dikera, in the Borgu Local Government Area.
These militants "massacred some of our people, under the pretext that we were not following the true teachings of Islam," Mr. Ahmad stated.
Lakurawa is an obscure group that some researchers have associated with the ISSP ("Islamic State Sahel Province"), active in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Another resident attributed the attack to Ansaru, another local jihadist group.
It is often difficult to confirm the details of attacks carried out by armed groups in rural areas, and neither the federal government nor the military authorities have yet responded to this assault.
Lakurawa militants are known to impose "taxes" on farmers and ranchers in the region, including by seizing crops or livestock, Mr. Ahmad explained.
"Many of us managed to escape" when another jihadist group, known as Mahmuda, intervened and began attacking the first, he added.
The exact toll of these attacks, which also affected the nearby village of Binzi, was not known, said Mr. Ahmad and federal MP Jafaru Mohammed.
"Some members of the Mahmuda group opposed the Lakurawa doctrine and, when they learned what they were doing, they fought them," the MP explained to AFP.
"But at present, many of our people have been massacred and many others have been abducted and taken into the bush," he recalled.
Africa's most populous country has been grappling for 17 years with an insurgency led by jihadist groups, who have made these kidnappings a key tactic — notably the abduction, in 2014, of hundreds of schoolgirls in the town of Chibok.
The insurgency is concentrated in the northeast, although Friday's attack took place in the central-west of the country on the border with Benin, a region that has seen a resurgence of activity by local armed groups and Sahel militants since the conflict fragmented.
The Niger State Police said they had been informed of the kidnapping, but had received no reports of casualties.
Last August, the Nigerian government claimed to have "dismantled" Mahmuda and Ansaru, thanks to the arrest of their leaders.
Jihadist violence in Nigeria, after peaking about ten years ago at the height of the Boko Haram jihadist group insurgency, has decreased, but the army and police remain overwhelmed by multiple and sometimes simultaneous conflicts.
Northwest and central Nigeria, where jihadists have gained ground, are also teeming with gangs known as "bandits," who have no ideological affiliation. These gangs loot villages, kidnap people for ransom, and extort money from farmers and miners.
The US military intervened by launching strikes against jihadist targets in the northwest in late 2025.
Farmers and ranchers clash over land issues in the center of the country, while a separatist conflict simmers in the southeast.
The practice of kidnapping represents a multi-million dollar windfall for gangs and jihadist groups.
Despite laws prohibiting the payment of ransoms, families of victims and the government have been accused of paying the kidnappers.
AFP
Commentaires (9)
Seuls dans le monde, les sionistes, leurs idiots utiles francs maçons et leurs cons occidentaux dits modernes évolués, ont un livre saint qui fixe leur paix à la condition d'une guerre. C'est le Talmud, leur livre saint, ou votre livre saint. Le messie viendra pour le règne des sionistes après que le feu et sang sera répandu sur terre. C'est le ordo ab chao de leurs idiots francs maçons, c'est le nouvel ordre mondial de leurs cons évolués.
Mais quand c'est l'armée du Nigeria l'une des meilleures et plus puissantes du continent ,qui subit des revers , les commentaires ne sont pas pareils..Les Trolls de l'ex colon ne sont -ils que spécialistes du Mali et des pays de l'AES?
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