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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The lawmaker representing Baruten/Kaiama Federal Constituency in Kwara State Mohammed Bio, has narrated the scale of devastation following coordinated terror attacks on Woro and Nuku villages that left no fewer than 162 people feared dead.
Speaking on Wednesday, Bio said the massacre occurred on Tuesday and was allegedly carried out by Lakurawa, an armed group linked to the Islamic State, though he noted that no organisation has officially claimed responsibility.
According to the legislator, entire families were wiped out as gunmen stormed the communities in a well-coordinated operation.
Eyewitness accounts described how the attackers gathered residents, tied their hands behind their backs and executed them at close range, before setting homes and shops ablaze.
A Kaiama-based politician, Sa’idu Baba Ahmed, said many villagers fled into surrounding bushland despite suffering gunshot wounds, while several others were still missing, including the area’s traditional ruler.
Residents told journalists that the assailants — believed to be jihadists — had earlier preached in the villages, demanding that locals abandon allegiance to the Nigerian state and embrace sharia law. The refusal of the communities reportedly triggered the violent onslaught.
Reacting to the tragedy, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the killings, describing them as a cowardly act by terrorist cells responding to intensified military operations in the region.
Kwara State borders Niger State, where armed groups have expanded their presence in recent years, raising growing security concerns across the North-Central zone. The Nigerian military has said it has launched sustained operations to dismantle terrorist networks in the area.
The Kwara massacre one of too many attacks in northern Nigeria. On the same day, gunmen reportedly killed at least 13 people in Doma village, Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, according to police.