Survivors of a deadly gunmen attack on Binnari community in Taraba State have said they counted more than 20 bodies after the assailants left, although the police reported that 10 bodies had been recovered as of Friday evening.
The attackers, who reportedly arrived on motorcycles, stormed the rural community shortly after Friday prayers, opening fire on residents and forcing many to flee for safety.
Two residents, Isiyaku Musa and Sa’idu Nuhu, gave accounts of the attack to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Saturday, describing the panic that engulfed the community.
“People were running in different directions to escape the attack. Nobody knew where it was safe to go,” Musa said.
Nuhu said residents began counting the dead after the attackers withdrew from the area.
“After the attackers left, we counted more than 20 bodies, and some people were still missing,” he told AFP.
The discrepancy between the figures provided by residents and the police left the final death toll unclear as of Saturday.
A community leader, Malam Abubakar Saifullahi, said the gunmen arrived on about 50 motorcycles, with two men riding on each motorcycle, before launching the assault.
According to him, the attackers looted shops and carted away cash, food items and other provisions. They also reportedly took motorcycles abandoned by residents fleeing the violence.
The incident adds to concerns over persistent insecurity in parts of northern Nigeria, where armed groups frequently attack rural communities, abduct residents for ransom and steal property.
Although northeastern Nigeria has endured a prolonged insurgency involving jihadist groups, Taraba and other parts of central Nigeria have also experienced attacks attributed to criminal gangs commonly referred to as bandits.
The gangs often target communities in remote areas where security forces face operational challenges.
Reacting to the incident, Amnesty International Nigeria criticised the authorities over what it described as the failure to protect vulnerable rural communities and bring suspected perpetrators of attacks to justice.
“The Nigerian authorities continue to leave rural communities in some parts of the north at the mercy of gunmen that are repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity,” the rights organisation said.
It added that the continued failure to prosecute those responsible for such attacks was encouraging further violence.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian military announced separately on Saturday that it had killed 15 suspected terrorists in an air strike in Borno State.
Nigeria has battled a jihadist insurgency since Boko Haram launched its uprising in 2009, while armed criminal gangs have continued to pose security challenges in several northern and central states.
