Unknown gunmen have raided a remote village in the northeast Nigerian state of Taraba, killing at least 10 people, looting shops and setting houses ablaze, police say.
There are fears the actual death toll is much higher, with eyewitnesses speaking of 20 lives lost and a non-governmental organisation suggesting a toll of as many as 50.
The gunmen reportedly swooped on the village of Binnari in the Karim Lamido area mounted on motorcycles just after midday Muslim prayers on Friday in a rampage that went on for up to four hours.
Police say they are searching for other casualties in the bush but the authorities were accused by Amnesty International of failing to protect rural communities.
Nigeria continues to face attacks by armed groups across several regions, including the northwest, northeast and central regions.
The country is also battling a jihadist insurgency in its northeast that has lasted nearly two decades, drawing persistent criticism of the government’s handling of insecurity.
Following the latest incident, police said they recovered 10 bodies with gunshot wounds after officers responded to a distress call.
The attackers had fled by the time they arrived but they continued to patrol the area to restore calm, they told BBC News on Saturday.
“We were able to disperse the unknown gunmen though there was no casualty on their side and ours because the terrain is difficult and they’re used to the terrain,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Mshelizah said.
He added that officers were continuing to search the bush nearby for people who might have been killed or wounded, and warned the death toll could still rise.
Speaking to AFP news agency, community leader Malam Abubakar Saifullahi said the attackers had arrived on about 50 motorcycles, two men apiece.
“They looted shops and took cash, foodstuffs and other provisions,” he said. “They also took motorcycles abandoned by people fleeing the attack.”
Survivors who spoke to AFP said they had counted at least 20 dead.
“People were running in different directions to escape the attack,” Binnari resident Isiyaku Musa said. “Nobody knew where it was safe to go.”
Another survivor, Sa’idu Nuhu, said that some people were still missing.
Amnesty’s Nigeria director, Isa Sanusi, told BBC News on Saturday that the NGO had spoken to some of the bereaved families who said up to 50 people had died.
“The initial funeral had 37 people,” he said.
Sanusi called for an impartial investigation into the killings, accusing the authorities of leaving rural communities “at the mercy of gunmen that are repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity”.
