{"id":29337,"date":"2025-08-20T21:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/?p=29337"},"modified":"2025-08-20T21:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T15:32:19","slug":"death-toll-in-nigerian-mosque-attack-jumps-to-at-least-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/death-toll-in-nigerian-mosque-attack-jumps-to-at-least-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Death toll in Nigerian mosque attack jumps to at least 30"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gunmen killed at least 30 people in an attack on a mosque in northwestern Nigeria earlier this week, according to a resident and a lawmaker, raising an earlier toll of 13.<\/p>\n

“Bandits”, as members of criminal gangs are locally known, struck a mosque in the town of Unguwar Mantau, in Katsina state’s Malumfashi local government area Tuesday, with a conflict monitor reporting an initial toll of 13 dead.<\/p>\n

The attack on worshippers at early morning prayers came despite a rash of recent peace deals in Katsina state meant to stem the tide of gang attacks — though Malumfashi had not been among the local governments to strike a truce.<\/p>\n

“Nine worshippers were killed on the spot and many others died in the course of the day. The latest toll stands at 32,” resident Nura Musa told AFP on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Local politician Aminu Ibrahim told the Katsina House of Assembly on Tuesday that the attackers had killed 30 people.<\/p>\n

Bandits have for years preyed on rural communities in northwest and central Nigeria, raiding villages, kidnapping residents for ransom and burning homes after looting them.<\/p>\n

– Possible retaliation –
\nMusa told AFP that Tuesday’s attack came after local self-defence vigilantes had ambushed a bandit gang over the weekend.<\/p>\n

“The vigilantes keep vigil from dusk to dawn, patrolling the village and environs against bandits,” he said.<\/p>\n

After ending their watch, they went to the mosque “at dawn to say the morning prayers with other worshippers before retiring”, he said.<\/p>\n

“As they were praying, the bandits launched a surprise attack on the mosque. They opened fire on worshippers and fled.”<\/p>\n

The bandits also attacked other nearby towns and kidnapped “several people”, Musa said.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s banditry crisis originated in conflicts over land and water rights between herders and farmers, which has since morphed into organised crime.<\/p>\n

The gangs have turned cattle theft, kidnapping and imposing taxes on farmers into huge moneymakers across the impoverished countryside, where the government’s presence has long been nearly non-existent.<\/p>\n

Even in communities that do strike peace deals with bandits, the reprieve can be short-lived if the gunmen or authorities fail to uphold the bargain.<\/p>\n

Bandits — who often keep the majority of their weapons after any deal — have also been known to exploit truces to establish safe havens in areas covered by such agreements, while continuing to launch attacks elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Security in Kaduna state’s Birnin Gwari district improved after a truce in November, but neighbouring Katsina and Niger states have seen a rise in bandit attacks.<\/p>\n

“The situation has become unbearable. Our people can no longer live in their villages because of these relentless attacks,” Ibrahim, the lawmaker, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gunmen killed at least 30 people in an attack on a mosque in northwestern Nigeria earlier this week, according to a resident and a lawmaker, raising an earlier toll of 13. “Bandits”, as members of criminal gangs are locally known, struck a mosque in the town of Unguwar Mantau, in Katsina state’s Malumfashi local government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29338,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29337\/revisions\/29338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nepalsamaj.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}