Gunmen on Motorcycles Kill Villagers in Nigeria’s Taraba State as Death Toll Estimates Diverge

Gunmen on motorcycles attacked the village of Binnari in Nigeria’s Taraba State on Friday, killing at least 10 people, police said, according to Al Jazeera and the BBC. Survivors and a rights group say the real toll is far higher.

The attack is the latest to hit rural Nigeria, where armed groups operate in several regions and authorities have struggled to protect remote communities.

What happened in Binnari

Residents told Al Jazeera the gunmen opened fire just after Friday prayers. A community leader, Malam Abubakar Saifullahi, told AFP that the attackers arrived on about 50 motorcycles, two men to each, before raiding the village. The BBC reported that the assault in the Karim Lamido area lasted for up to four hours.

According to the BBC, the gunmen also looted shops and set houses on fire. Saifullahi told AFP they took cash, food and other supplies, as well as motorcycles left behind by people who ran away.

Resident Isiyaku Musa said people fled in different directions and nobody knew where it was safe to go.

How many people were killed?

Accounts differ sharply:

• Police said 10 bodies with gunshot wounds were recovered after officers responded to a distress call, the BBC reported.
• Survivors told AFP that at least 20 people died, and residents said some villagers were still missing.
• Amnesty International said in a statement that the toll was 40, according to Al Jazeera, adding that more bodies were found later Saturday.
• Amnesty’s Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, told the BBC that bereaved families spoke of as many as 50 deaths, and that the first funeral involved 37 people.

Police spokesman Victor Mshelizah told the BBC that officers were still searching the nearby bush for people who may have been killed or wounded, and warned that the toll could rise.

What police and Amnesty are saying

Police told the BBC that the attackers had fled by the time officers arrived, and that officers have kept patrolling to restore calm. Mshelizah said the gunmen were dispersed, and that nobody on either side was hurt, which he attributed to difficult terrain that the attackers know well.

Amnesty criticized the authorities, saying rural communities in parts of the north are left at the mercy of gunmen who commit atrocities with impunity. Sanusi called for an impartial investigation.

Why it matters: a long-running security crisis

Al Jazeera described banditry as a growing problem in northwest and central Nigeria, where powerful gangs face overstretched police and military forces in hard-to-reach rural areas. Bandits raid villages, kidnap people for ransom and demand “taxes” from farmers and miners where the state has little presence. Taraba is also affected by bandit gangs, the outlet said.

The country is also battling a jihadist insurgency in the northeast that has lasted nearly two decades, according to the BBC. Al Jazeera dated that rebellion to the Boko Haram uprising in 2009. The BBC noted that the government’s handling of insecurity has drawn persistent criticism.

For people in remote villages, that means attacks can happen with few security forces nearby, and official counts may trail what residents and rights groups report in the days afterward.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Al Jazeera, BBC News