Nigerian militants have attacked villages in western Kwara state, killing at least 162 people, according to the Red Cross. A member of parliament said that two villages, Woro and Nuku, bore the brunt of the attack.
Armed extremists attacked a pair of villages in western Nigeria overnight, a lawmaker and medics said on Wednesday, killing at least 162 people in one of the deadliest assaults of its kind in recent months.
The attacks targeted the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara state, Mohammed Omar Bio, a member of parliament representing the area, told the Associated Press.
He said the attacks were carried out by the Lakurawa, an Islamist armed group affiliated with the self-styled "Islamic State."
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Initial reports on the attack, from early Wednesday morning, began with a death toll in the region of 35 to 40, before that was updated to 67, and subsequently raised well past 100.
Kwara is the same state the US targeted in airstrikes in December, striking Islamic State militants at the request of Nigeria's government.
Relief efforts challenging in remote area
The Red Cross secretary in Kwara state, Ayodeji Emmanuel Babaomo, said that the organization had not yet been able to reach the communities.
The villages are in a remote area about eight hours from the state capital and near Nigeria's border with Benin.
Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq issued a statement on Wednesday calling the attack a "cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells" in response to the ongoing military operations against armed extremists in the state. He did not provide details on the numbers of casualties.
Nigeria's military has intensified operations against jihadists and armed bandits in the area in recent weeks.
Last month, the military said it had launched a "sustained coordinated offensive operations against terrorist elements" in Kwara state, boasting of notable successes.
Terrorism, kidnapping, other violence rife across much of the country
Nigeria's security forces are struggling to maintain control over large portions of Africa's most populous country, which has been the case for many years now.
It's facing an insurgency by Islamic militants in the northeast as well as a surge in kidnappings and ransom demands from gunmen and bandits across the north and northwest. School abductions forced education centers to close for weeks late last year. Intercommunal violence, often between the rival primary religions Christianity and Islam, also remains an issue in many states. The former defense minister resigned in December.
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In a separate attack in the northwestern state of Katsina on Tuesday, 23 people were killed by gunmen in the village of Doma. This was said to be a reprisal attack after military raids in the area in which the military said it killed 27 militants.
Attacks on a construction site and an army base in the northeast last week claimed at least 36 lives.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
