LAGOS – The Nigerian government has announced a new military operation to tackle Islamic militants following the killing of more than 160 people in western Kwara state, many of them reportedly for resisting extremist ideology.
Local officials said 162 people were killed during the Tuesday attack in the villages of Woro and Nuku, one of the deadliest attacks in the country outside of the known conflict hot spots. The gunmen razed homes and looted shops in what Amnesty International’s Nigeria office called “a stunning security failure.”
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No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack in the Muslim-majority villages. Locals and officials have pointed to various Islamic militant groups, including Nigeria’s homegrown Boko Haram or the Islamic State-linked Lakurawa.
The statement from the Nigerian presidency noted the attackers killed the villagers for rejecting “their obnoxious attempt at indoctrination, choosing instead to practice Islam that is neither extreme nor violent.”
Kwara State Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq said the attack was likely carried out in response to recent counterterrorism operations in the region. Some similar operations have been possible due to intelligence provided by local communities.
The killings also could serve to intimidate other locals and make them more likely to comply with militants' demands.
President Bola Tinubu’s office said in a statement late Wednesday that a Nigerian army battalion will be deployed to Kwara’s Kaiama local government, the area where the attack happened. Kaiama has had a limited security presence until now.
“President Tinubu said the new military command will spearhead Operation Savannah Shield to checkmate the barbaric terrorists and protect defenseless communities,” the statement read.
U.S. President Donald Trump has alleged without evidence that Christians are the primary targets in Nigeria. While Christians have been among those targeted, analysts say the majority of victims of armed groups are Muslims in Nigeria’s north, where most attacks occur.
Despite their initial disagreements, the U.S. administration has since carried out airstrikes targeting Islamic militants in parts of the country as part of wider security efforts in partnership with the Nigerian military. A small team of American officers are also on the ground in Nigeria.
Experts say that Kwara, which has seen a recent spike in deadly attacks and kidnappings, is fast becoming a new frontier for armed groups seeking to expand.
“In certain places, they (armed groups) are finding competition from rival groups, and so a lot of them are in this broader axis because there has traditionally been less competition from other armed groups,” said James Barnett, a researcher at the Washington-based Hudson Institute.