Toll in Nigeria gang attack rises to 62: emergency services

The death toll from an attack by criminal gangs on an eastern Nigerian town last week has jumped to 62 after more bodies were recovered, Nigerian emergency services said Wednesday.

But police gave a lower toll of 52.

Thousands were also displaced by the violence, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Gunmen from a suspected bandit gang on motorcycles swarmed Binnari, in Taraba state shortly after Friday prayers, killing dozens and looting stores.

Taraba is sandwiched between northeastern Nigeria, which has a long-running jihadist insurgency, and the volatile central region, which faces gangs of criminals known locally as bandits motivated by money rather than ideology or religion.

NEMA said in a statement that the attack "claimed 62 lives and left 52 persons injured", based on the report it received from the Taraba state emergency services.

Bodies were recovered in surrounding bushes and in a river after they had drowned while fleeing the attack, according to police, residents and Amnesty International.

"The incident reportedly affected 7,123 persons and displaced 5,187 residents, creating an urgent humanitarian situation in the community," NEMA said in the statement.

The emergency agency said it was working with local authorities to assess the needs of the people displaced by the attack for the provision of "appropriate humanitarian assistance".

Banditry is a growing problem in northwest and central Nigeria, with powerful gangs battling the overstretched police and military across hard-to-reach, rural locations.

They raid villages and impose levies on farmers and mining operations in areas with little state presence.

Amnesty International, in a post on X, blamed the Nigerian authorities for leaving some rural communities "at the mercy of gunmen that repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity".