January 4, 2026 | Minna / Borgu, Niger State — Dalena Reporters
MINNA — Terror struck rural communities in Niger State, Nigeria on Saturday, January 3, 2026, as heavily armed gunmen carried out a brutal assault on the Kasuwa Daji market and surrounding villages in the Borgu and Agwarra Local Government Areas, leaving scores of civilians dead and abducted in what residents and local leaders described as one of the deadliest attacks in recent memory.
Eyewitnesses and community representatives reported that the assailants, believed to be bandits or terrorists operating from forest hideouts near Kainji Lake National Park, stormed the bustling market in Demo village in the mid-afternoon, firing indiscriminately at shoppers, traders, women, and children before setting stalls and village buildings ablaze.
By the time residents and first responders reached the scene the following morning, dozens of lifeless bodies lay strewn across the charred marketplace and surrounding paths, with initial counts placing the death toll at more than 40, and others still unaccounted for amid the widespread destruction. Some bodies have continued to be discovered in nearby bushes and water sources as local volunteers conduct grim searches.
“They rounded many up, tied them, shot them like goats,” one terrified resident recounted, describing the savage nature of the ambush.
In addition to the killings, the attackers abducted an unknown number of villagers, including women and children, as they retreated back into the bush. The scale of the kidnappings remains unclear, but community sources said many families are still searching for missing loved ones, and some of the abducted are believed to have been taken toward forest strongholds used by criminal gangs.
Residents expressed deep frustration and anger at what they described as a delayed or absent security response, noting that no troops or police officers were present during or immediately after the carnage, despite repeated calls for protection in recent weeks. “Parents are crying and we do not know what situation they will find their children in,” one local lamented.
The attack underscores the chronic insecurity afflicting Nigeria’s rural northern and north-central regions, where bandit gangs and extremist groups exploit vast forest corridors to launch raids on isolated communities, markets, and schools. Niger State has been one of the hardest hit, with incidents of mass abductions and killings recurring over the past year.
Reacting to the atrocity, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu reportedly ordered security agencies to intensify operations around forest communities and to bring the perpetrators swiftly to justice, directing joint forces to track down the attackers and rescue abducted victims.
As families grieve and survivors flee to nearby towns for safety, community leaders and civil society groups are calling for urgent humanitarian assistance, reinforced security deployments, and sustained efforts to end the cycle of violence that has repeatedly devastated vulnerable rural populations.