Nigeria: 50 killed in bandit attack on Taraba village

The death toll from an attack by gunmen on a rural village in eastern Nigeria on Friday has risen to 50, survivors told AFP on Sunday, after more bodies were discovered.

Armed men believed to belong to a criminal gang, locally known as "bandits", arrived on motorcycles on Friday and stormed Binnari, in the north-east of Taraba State, killing dozens of people and looting shops.

Nigeria's north-east has been battling a long-running jihadist insurgency, while Taraba State, in the east of the country, also faces attacks by bandit gangs motivated by financial gain rather than ideology.

"On Friday, we found seven bodies after the bandits attacked our community. The following day, Saturday, we discovered another 43 bodies in the river, bringing the total death toll to 50," said Bashir Mamuda Musa, a resident of Binnari.

On Saturday, survivors had put the death toll at 20. Another resident, Abdullahi Zakari, confirmed the revised figure of 50 deaths. Recovering bodies can often be difficult when communities scatter to escape danger.

"Many residents, particularly women and children, fled towards the river in an attempt to escape the gunmen. Unfortunately, several people drowned while trying to flee the attack," Zakari told AFP.

Banditry is a growing problem in Nigeria, particularly in the north-west and central regions, where powerful criminal gangs confront overstretched police and military forces in remote rural areas.

The gangs attack villages and impose taxes on farmers and mining operations in areas where government presence is limited.

"Nigerian authorities continue to leave rural communities in parts of the country, particularly in the north, at the mercy of armed bandits who repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity," Amnesty International Nigeria said on Saturday.

"The authorities' persistent failure to bring suspected perpetrators to justice is clearly reinforcing this impunity," the human rights organisation added in a statement on social media.