By Ahmed Kingimi
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Feb 19 (Reuters) – At least 34 people were killed on Tuesday when suspected Lakurawa Islamist militants launched coordinated attacks on multiple rural villages in Nigeria’s northwestern Kebbi state, a security report seen by Reuters said on Thursday.
Lakurawa, a new insurgent group, operates mainly in Kebbi and Sokoto states in northwestern Nigeria, where the United States carried out strikes on Islamic State‑linked militants in December.
The new assaults mirrored previous Lakurawa raids in Kebbi, where armed groups hit small villages with simultaneous strikes to swamp local defences and force residents to flee, the report said.
The gunmen swept through villages in the remote border district, opening fire in what survivors described as highly organised, indiscriminate attacks.
The dead included 16 in Mamunu, five in Awashaka, three in Masama and two each in five other villages, the security report said.
The raid sent residents fleeing as gunmen stormed households. Security forces have moved into the area to protect communities, aid survivors and cut off the militants’ escape routes, with tracking operations under way, the report said.
(Reporting by Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri, Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Timothy Heritage)
