Gunmen kill at least 10 in northeast Nigeria village raid

Gunmen killed at least 10 people in an attack on Binnari village in northeast Nigeria’s Taraba state, looting shops and setting homes ablaze, police said. Officers were searching nearby bushland for further casualties, with authorities warning that the confirmed death toll could rise.

The attack struck the community in Karim Lamido after Friday Muslim prayers, according to the police account reported by BBC News. Witnesses described armed men arriving on motorcycles and carrying out a raid that reportedly lasted as long as four hours, sending residents fleeing in different directions.

Police said officers responding to a distress call recovered 10 bodies bearing gunshot wounds. Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, police spokesperson Victor Mshelizah said searches were continuing for people who might have been killed or injured in the surrounding terrain, which he described as difficult to navigate.

Accounts from survivors pointed to a potentially greater loss of life than the initial police tally. Residents who spoke to AFP said they had counted at least 20 dead, while others remained missing. Those accounts had not been reconciled with the number of bodies police said they had recovered.

Amnesty International also reported a higher toll. Its Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, told the BBC that bereaved families had described as many as 50 deaths and that an initial funeral involved 37 people. These figures were attributed to families interviewed by the organisation, rather than a revised police count.

The destruction extended beyond the killings. Community leader Malam Abubakar Saifullahi told AFP that attackers stole cash, food and other provisions from shops, as well as motorcycles left behind by fleeing residents. His account described losses affecting both household supplies and the means people used to travel.

Security reinforcements were deployed following the attack, according to a Taraba police statement reported by Channels Television. The deployment included police tactical units, the Police Mobile Force and the Nigerian Army. Police said the operation was intended to prevent further violence, protect residents and apprehend those responsible.

The attack comes against a wider backdrop of armed violence affecting several regions of Nigeria. The northeast also faces a long-running jihadist insurgency, but the available accounts did not establish that the Binnari attackers belonged to an insurgent organisation. Their identity and motive remained unconfirmed.

Amnesty called for an impartial investigation and criticised the authorities’ protection of rural communities. Separately, Premium Times reported that local residents alleged security assistance arrived too late to prevent the killings and destruction. Those allegations raise questions about the response but do not themselves establish the sequence of police actions.

The immediate task remains accounting for missing residents and establishing a reliable casualty total. Police said coordinated security operations would continue and urged the public to report suspicious movements or useful information. Further searches and the identification of victims will be necessary to determine the full human cost of the raid.