Gunmen attacked three communities in north-central Nigeria on Saturday, killing at least 15 people, Amnesty International said. The rights group said the simultaneous assaults took place in Tashan Maje, Saduro and Runtuwa villages in the Borgu area of Niger state.
Amnesty said the gunmen invaded the villages “on dozens of motorcycles shooting in all directions” and that they also ransacked shops. The group did not say what armed group carried out the attacks, and it provided no further details about the attackers.
In its statement on X, Amnesty described the attack as part of a continuing pattern in northern Nigeria in which ordinary residents face recurring violence and insecurity. The group said the “horrific attack” was “yet another indication that people are constantly living on the edge and feeling helpless.”
The killings reported by Amnesty come amid what the report described as a complex security crisis across northern Nigeria. The country has seen militant activity in the northeast and armed criminal gangs kidnapping people for ransom in the northwest and north-central regions.
The report also cited tensions in how outsiders view the conflict. It said Africa’s most populous country has been a focus of Washington after President Donald Trump said Nigeria was not protecting Christians from an alleged genocide, and it said the Nigerian government rejected that accusation.
Amnesty’s account of the Niger state attacks was delivered as Nigeria continued to face other reported incidents of violence. The report said that last week Nigerian police stated 38 people were killed and others were abducted in an attack in the northwestern state of Zamfara.
Separately, Nigeria’s military said on Sunday it had “recorded decisive operational successes” against militants over the previous 24 hours. It said 20 suspects were arrested and it recovered a “significant cache” that included weapons, ammunition, logistics supplies, stolen crude oil, illicit drugs and rustled livestock, describing the actions as a “relentless push” to degrade “terrorist networks and criminal syndicates nationwide.”