VIDEO SHOWS HUNDREDS ABDUCTED IN NIGER MOSQUE ATTACK

 

An alarming video circulating on social media appears to show hundreds of women, children and elderly people being held captive by armed men following a mass abduction in Niger State.

Residents told Reuters that about 600 people may have been abducted when gunmen attacked worshippers at a mosque in Dekara village, Borgu Local Government Area, during Friday prayers on August 21. The attackers were also reported to have raided several surrounding communities.

The video, circulated on Facebook and WhatsApp, shows large groups of people sitting in a forested area while armed men stand around them. Children can reportedly be heard crying in the background.

An armed man speaking Hausa in the footage appealed to families to identify their relatives among the captives. Several residents subsequently told Reuters that they recognised people they knew in the video. 

One resident, Ibrahim Abubakar, said he recognised 13 people from his community among those shown. Other residents said they identified elderly relatives, women and children who had disappeared during the attacks.

However, the exact number of people abducted remains unclear. Reuters said it could not independently verify when or where the video was recorded, although it found no earlier version of the footage online before August 23. Authorities have also not confirmed the figure of 600. 

Police had earlier acknowledged the attack on worshippers but were unable to establish the precise number of people taken. The emergence of the video has therefore intensified anxiety among families still searching for missing relatives.

The reported presence of women with infants and large numbers of children among the captives has heightened concern over the welfare of those being held. Residents are appealing to both the Federal Government and the Niger State Government to intensify efforts to locate and rescue them.

The incident adds to growing concerns over mass kidnapping in Nigeria's north-western and north-central regions, where armed criminal groups have increasingly targeted villages, schools, highways and places of worship. 

If the residents' estimate is eventually confirmed, the Niger State incident would rank among the largest mass abductions reported in the country in recent years, putting renewed pressure on security agencies to confront armed groups operating with increasing confidence in vulnerable communities.