Dozens of villagers have been killed in two violent overnight assaults by armed gangs in Nigeria’s Taraba State, officials confirmed Saturday.
Governor Agbu Kefas said “scores of people” lost their lives and properties in attacks on the Karim Lamido district early Saturday morning.
Though no official death toll was released, local residents in Magani and Munga villages reported a combined total of nearly 30 fatalities.
“It was midnight, I heard gunshots,” said Moses Kefas of Magani. “When it ended, I saw 16 dead bodies scattered around the village.”
Andrew John, speaking from Munga, said he counted 13 bodies in his village, describing the aftermath as heartbreaking and chaotic.
Governor Kefas strongly condemned the killings, calling the attacks “horrendous and unacceptable” in a statement issued to the press.
The area had recently suffered previous assaults by so-called bandits—armed gangs who raid villages for ransom, loot, and destruction.
These groups frequently target rural communities, often torching homes and abducting civilians in a campaign of fear and violence.
Although the northwest has been most affected, the spread of such attacks into the northeast signals a troubling expansion of insecurity.
The killings add to a rising toll of violence across the region, where both bandits and jihadist militants continue to escalate attacks.
As security forces struggle to contain the threat, residents in rural Nigeria face growing fear, displacement, and the erosion of daily life.