The Kwara State Government said 75 people have been confirmed killed so far in an attack on Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Rafiu Ajakaiye, the spokesperson for the Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, gave the casualty figure in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES.
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“Seventy five people have been confirmed (dead) by the emir himself when we met with him,” Mr Ajakaiye said, adding all the victims were Muslims.
He said the people were killed for rejecting “extremist ideologies by terrorists.”
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He said the governor and his team were heading to Woro.
The spokesperson said security forces have been deployed, and the governor has also announced the directive by President Tinubu to deploy “new battalion of soldiers to launch a new operation in the axis.”
This newspaper earlier reported that 170 people were killed in the attack believed to have been carried out by the Sadiku-led Boko Haram faction which relocated to Kainji forest reserve in July last year.
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The assault came about five months after the group sent a letter to the district head of Woro, Salihu Umar, notifying him of their intention to visit the community for [radical] preaching.
The attack began around 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday, residents said, adding that the terrorists abducted an unspecified number of women and children.
Reuters earlier quoted a local politician, Sa’idu Ahmed, as estimating the death toll at 40, noting that more bodies were likely to be found.
By Wednesday evening, local sources said the casualty figures had risen to 170. The Red Cross put the death toll at 162 as of Wednesday evening.
A resident who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES from hiding said a search-and-rescue team, accompanied by military personnel and forest guards, counted at least 170 bodies.
Among those killed was Salihu Ibrahim, a former students’ union leader of the Kwara State College of Nursing, Ilorin.
PREMIUM TIMES also gathered that the terrorists razed houses and shops, including the palace of the district head, Mr Umar.
The district head, like several other villagers, remains missing. Sources said terrorists went away with his vehicle.
“They also stole his jeep,” one source said. “They used it to transport some of the kidnapped victims into the forest.”
At of press time, many residents were still taking refuge in nearby bushes.
Police confirm attack, say several people killed
In response to an enquiry earlier sent to the Kwara State police command, its spokesperson, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, said the attack left “several people” dead, others injured, and homes and properties destroyed.
Ms Ejire-Adeyemi said police tactical teams in collaboration with the military, forest guards, and local vigilantes have been deployed to secure the area, while investigations are underway to track the attackers, who reportedly fled toward the Kainji National Park forest.
ALSO READ: Five months after warning letter, Boko Haram attacks Kwara community, kills 170, abducts women and children
The Woro attack comes barely a month after terrorists attacked Kasuwan Daji in neighbouring Niger State, killing more than 30 people and abducting women and children.
The same terrorists are also believed to be responsible for the abduction of over 300 students from St Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, Niger State.
The Sadiku faction of Boko Haram has operated in Alawa forest reserve from where it attacked neighbouring villages like Alawa, Basa and Kurebe among others. Although the group has moved to the Kainji axis, it left behind an excruciating tale of a humanitarian crisis.
Sources inducing ex-members of the group told this reporter that the group left its former stronghold due to sustained military aerial offensives and infighting with Dogo Gide, a notorious bandit leader that Sadiku had collaborated with to stage violent attacks in the North-west and the North-central.
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