Nigeria villagers say jihadists killed scores in Niger state

Survivors and a Nigerian lawmaker said jihadists killed scores of civilians and kidnapped others during an attack around Friday prayers in central Nigeria's Niger state.

Jibril Ahmad, a survivor from Dikera village in the Borgu local government area, told AFP that armed men he identified as Lakurawa arrived in large numbers with guns, knives and machetes after prayers and began attacking people. He said nearby villages were also hit.

Federal representative Jafaru Mohammed also told AFP that several villages were attacked. A medical source in Dikera put the initial death toll at around 40, but neither Ahmad nor Mohammed had a firm toll on Saturday morning.

Niger state police said they were aware of the kidnapping but had not received reports that anyone had been killed. Federal government and military authorities had not commented on the assault.

Ahmad and Mohammed said another jihadist group, Mahmuda, intervened and clashed with the Lakurawa fighters during the violence, allowing some abductees to escape. Mohammed said some members of Mahmuda opposed Lakurawa's doctrine.

Responsibility remained unclear. Ahmad blamed Lakurawa, a group some researchers have linked to Islamic State Sahel Province. Another Dikera resident, Abdullahi Ahmad, blamed Ansaru, a local jihadist group, and said fighters returned on Saturday to kidnap more people and placed landmines on a road leading out of Dikera.

Abdullahi Ahmad said a man and his family were killed when their car hit a landmine while fleeing, but that account was not confirmed by authorities.

Nigeria has faced a 17-year jihadist insurgency concentrated in the northeast, while armed groups and militants have expanded activity in parts of the northwest and centre. Kidnapping for ransom has become a major tactic for criminal gangs and jihadist groups in the country.