Suspected Boko Haram terrorists attack Niger community, kill residents, abduct women, children

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists have launched a deadly attack on Pissa village in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, leaving several residents feared dead and many others abducted.

Central Post Nigeria reports that, the assault began in the early hours of Saturday when heavily armed terrorists stormed the community, unleashing violence on residents and setting homes ablaze.

According to WhatsApp voice messages sent by fleeing villagers, the terrorists number more than 100, and threatened to attack nearby villages: Kabe and Sukumba.

In one of the voice messages, a man speaking from hiding said the terrorists overpowered local vigilantes in the village. He also lamented that military personnel had not been deployed to the area yet.

The Niger police command has not issued a statement about the incident. An enquiry sent to its spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, had not been responded to.

Meanwhile, a local security guard in Wawa, a garrison town in the local government area, said sending security forces to the area by road would be difficult.

“The only bridge linking Wawa to the villages had been blown up by Boko Haram about two months ago,” he said, adding only military aircrafts “can come to the rescue.”

However, another villager said neither land nor air forces had arrived in the community.

“They are still here, taking women and children. They are killing some and burning our houses,” the villager, a man, said in a WhatsApp voice note sent to this newspaper.

“But no help has come. Our (military) aircrafts are useless. We have not seen them but later they will tell us lies that they killed all the terrorists,” he added.

The Boko Haram offshoot controlled by Mallam Sadiku is attempting to establish itself within the Kainji Lake National Park.

The group shifted base from their safe haven of Shiroro in 2025 to Kainji forest, which has connections with Old Oyo National Park and another forest within the neighboring Benin Republic.

One of their first big attacks occurred last November when they abducted over 300 students of the St Mary’s Catholic Church, Papiri, Niger State.

This was followed in December by another massive attack in the neighboring Kasun Daji village, in which mainly men were murdered, while women and children were kidnapped.

In February, there was an attack on the Woro village of Kwara State where many were killed and over 100 persons abducted.