Nigeria: 16 Worshipers Killed as Gunmen Attack Mosque

Gunmen attacked a rural village in northern Nigeria, killing 16 worshipers at a mosque and kidnapping others, a local official reported on Friday.

Local government chairman Alhassan Isah Mazakuka mentioned that the assault on Ba’are village in the Mashegu area of Niger state lasted for hours on Thursday.

He noted that dozens of the assailants arrived on motorcycles and rampaged through the village, killing people praying at the mosque and looting.

“Those people (the gunmen) are dangerous,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview on Friday. “They killed 16 and kidnapped many of our people. We don’t even know the number they kidnapped because they are uncountable.”

In the same vein, Nigeria's police confirmed the incident but said only nine residents were killed. The police have in the past been accused of downplaying casualty figures in such attacks.

Earlier this week it was confirmed that 23 travelers were slain in a different part of the West African country’s troubled northern region.