Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has ordered the military and other security agencies to launch an immediate rescue operation after scores of people were kidnapped by gunmen in north-central Niger State last week.
An armed group posted a video on Facebook and WhatsApp showing what residents said were about 600 women, children and older people abducted during an attack on a mosque in Dekera village in Borgu district. Reuters could not independently verify the figure, but if confirmed, it would rank among Nigeria’s largest mass kidnappings in recent years.
An official from Borgu district said 30 people were killed during the attack and buried on Sunday. The official, who declined to be named as she was not authorised to speak to the media, said villagers from the communities of Dakera, Gidan-Zana and Sabon Gida were affected. 
Abubakar Umar, the traditional head of Dakera community, said at least 2,000 people fled into neighbouring Benin Republic following the attack.
In the video, which circulated widely on social media, children can be heard crying while a gunman speaking in the Hausa language addresses families of the captives directly.
“These are all your people,” the gunman says in the video.
Residents, including Abdulmutallib Muqaddas Dindi, said they were able to confirm the identities of some of the hostages.
“We have identified our elders, relatives, and some of us have seen their wives and children in the video,” he said.
Tinubu condemned the attack as cowardly and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice.
“Terror will not cow Nigeria. We will defend our people, protect our communities and uphold the sanctity of human life,” Tinubu said in a statement.
He directed security chiefs to provide regular updates on rescue efforts and to account for all those taken.
Niger State Commissioner for Information Obed Nana told Reuters that authorities were still working to verify the number of missing people.
“I don’t want to be too speculative about it because you know how sensitive such information can be,” Nana said.
He told the Anadolu news agency that an operation was under way to “assess the situation, track the attackers, and facilitate the rescue of the abducted worshippers”.
Abuja-based security expert Kabir Adamu said it was not yet possible to say who was responsible, but expected the gunmen who released the video would soon issue a ransom demand. He said the broad daylight attack showed how ineffective security operations had been.
“The ability of these groups to operate has not been limited in any way,” he said, adding that gunmen could easily move between different parts of Nigeria or across borders.
Fellow security expert Yahuza Getso described the incident as a significant failure.
“If we are doing what we are supposed to do as a government and as a nation they couldn’t have had capacity and ability, courage and confidence to have carted away such a number of people,” he said.
Amnesty International has urged Nigerian authorities to secure the release of the worshippers, warning of the growing threat posed by mass abductions in northern Nigeria.
Mass abductions for ransom have become common in parts of northwestern and north-central Nigeria, where heavily armed criminal gangs frequently raid villages, schools and highways, holding captives for weeks or months while demanding large ransoms. The groups have increasingly expanded their operations beyond traditional strongholds in the north.
Northwest Nigeria has long been a transit zone for arms and gunmen moving across West Africa, but the area has increasingly become a site for attacks by militants aligned with al Qaeda and Islamic State operating from Nigeria, Niger and Benin.
