Boko Haram terrorists invade Niger village, kill many

Suspected Boko Haram terrorists have ransacked Pissa, one of the terrorised villages in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, killing an unspecified number of locals, and kidnapping others including women and children.

Local sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the attack started early morning on Saturday, with many houses razed by the terrorists.

According to WhatsApp voice messages sent by fleeing villagers, the terrorists number more than 100, and threatened to attack nearby villages: Kabe and Sukumba.

In one of the voice messages, a man speaking from hiding said the terrorists overpowered local vigilantes in the village. He also lamented that military personnel had not been deployed to the area yet.

The Niger police command has not issued a statement about the incident. An enquiry sent to its spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, had not been responded to.

Meanwhile, a local security guard in Wawa, a garrison town in the local government area, said sending security forces to the area by road would be difficult.

“The only bridge linking Wawa to the villages had been blown up by Boko Haram about two months ago,” he said, adding only military aircrafts “can come to the rescue.”

However, another villager said neither land nor air forces had arrived in the community.

“They are still here, taking women and children. They are killing some and burning our houses,” the villager, a man, said in a WhatsApp voice note sent to this newspaper.

“But no help has come. Our (military) aircrafts are useless. We have not seen them but later they will tell us lies that they killed all the terrorists,” he added.

A Boko Haram franchise led by Mallam Sadiku has been trying to entrench itself in the Kainji Lake National Park.

Last year, the group relocated from its strongholds in Shiroro to Kainji forest reserve which links to Old Oyo National Park and another forest in neighbouring Benin Republic.

One of its first major attacks was in November 2025 when it abducted more than 300 students from St Mary’s Catholic Church, Papiri, Niger State.

This was followed by another mass atrocity the following month in neighbouring Kasun Daji, where men were mainly killed, while women and children were kidnapped.

In February, it attacked Woro in Kwara State, killing scores and abducting over 100 people mostly women and children.

In May, the group kidnapped 39 students and seven teachers from three schools in Oyo State. The captives are yet to be released.

The terror group rose to power when it collaborated with bandits to stage the 2022 Kaduna train attack where many passengers were held hostage and released months later after ransom payments.