Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has deployed an army battalion to Kaiama district in Kwara state following a deadly overnight attack in Woro village, where suspected jihadist fighters killed 170 people.
Tuesday’s assault marked the deadliest attack in Kwara this year, in a region bordering Niger that has increasingly faced violence from Islamic State West Africa Province and other armed groups targeting villages.
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Security analysts warn that jihadist factions are moving south along the Niger-Kwara axis toward Kainji forest, which could become their next stronghold, raising concerns over further escalation and attacks on remote communities.
President Tinubu condemned the attack as “cowardly and barbaric,” noting that the militants targeted villagers who resisted extremist rule, and emphasized that the newly deployed military unit would prevent further assaults.
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Residents said the attackers had long preached in Woro, urging locals to abandon the Nigerian state and adopt Sharia law. When villagers refused, the gunmen opened fire, destroying around 38 houses in the attack.
In a separate incident in Katsina state, northern Nigeria, gunmen killed at least 21 people in house-to-house attacks, highlighting a continuing wave of violence that has prompted cooperation between Nigeria and U.S. forces.