Gunmen suspected to be linked to Islamic State-aligned militants unleashed coordinated assaults on two rural communities in Nigeria’s Kwara State, leaving multiple casualties and widespread destruction, according to local officials and humanitarian responders.
The raids struck the villages of Woro and Nuku late Tuesday, Mohammed Omar Bio, the member of parliament representing the affected constituency, told The Associated Press. Bio identified the attackers as members of Lakurawa, an armed faction associated with the Islamic State network. Despite the scale of the violence, no group has formally taken responsibility.
Relief efforts have struggled to reach survivors. Ayodeji Emmanuel Babaomo, secretary of the Red Cross in Kwara, explained that rescue teams have yet to access the devastated settlements. He noted that the communities lie in a difficult-to-reach location near Nigeria’s frontier with Benin, roughly eight hours from the state capital, adding that “scores of people were killed”.
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Broadcast footage from local television stations showed grim scenes, including victims lying on blood-soaked ground, some bound, alongside homes engulfed in flames.
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the violence, calling it a “cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells” reacting to intensified military crackdowns targeting extremist fighters operating within the state.
Nigeria continues to wrestle with overlapping security threats across several regions. While Islamist insurgents maintain their foothold in the northeast, criminal gangs and armed groups have expanded kidnappings for ransom throughout the northwest and parts of the north-central belt in recent months.
In a separate incident also reported Tuesday, gunmen attacked Doma village in Katsina State, killing at least 13 people, according to police spokesperson Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu. Authorities have not linked the attackers to any specific group, and responsibility for the killings remains unclear.
Violence linked to Boko Haram militants persists as well. Last week, extremists carried out two deadly operations in northeastern Nigeria, targeting both a construction facility and a military installation, leaving at least 36 people dead.
Security analysts say Nigeria faces threats from multiple insurgent networks, including two with ties to the Islamic State. These include the Islamic State West Africa Province, which evolved from Boko Haram’s ranks and operates mainly in the northeast, and the lesser-known Islamic State Sahel Province, locally called Lakurawa, which has gained prominence in northwestern regions.
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Nigerian defense authorities have previously traced Lakurawa’s origins to neighboring Niger, noting that its activities intensified in Nigeria’s border areas after a 2023 coup disrupted regional security cooperation.
James Barnett, a research fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, suggested that the Kwara killings likely bear the hallmark of Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, known as JAS, a Boko Haram offshoot blamed for previous large-scale attacks in the region.
Amid growing instability, the United States has stepped up engagement with Nigerian security forces. The commander of U.S. Africa Command announced Tuesday that a small contingent of American military officers had been deployed to the country as part of efforts to support Nigeria’s counterterrorism response. The move follows U.S. airstrikes in December targeting militants aligned with the Islamic State inside Nigeria.
Nigeria has also faced mounting diplomatic scrutiny from the United States. Tensions heightened after President Donald Trump threatened military action, accusing Nigerian authorities of failing to adequately safeguard Christian communities.
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