Taraba bandit attack: Death toll rises to 50

The death toll from a bandit attack on Binnari community in Taraba State has risen to at least 50, following the discovery of more bodies, survivors and Amnesty International told AFP on Sunday.

Police and Amnesty International said some of the victims drowned while attempting to escape the attackers.

Gunmen riding motorcycles and suspected to be members of a bandit gang stormed Binnari, in eastern Taraba, shortly after Friday prayers, killing dozens of people and looting and burning shops.

Taraba State lies between northeastern Nigeria, which has experienced a prolonged jihadist insurgency, and the volatile central region, where criminal gangs known as bandits operate.

Driven largely by financial motives rather than ideology, bandits in Nigeria frequently target poorly policed rural communities, kidnapping residents for ransom and killing others.

“On Friday, we found seven bodies after the bandits attacked our community,” said Bashir Mamuda Musa, a resident of Binnari.

“The following day, Saturday, we discovered another 43 bodies in the river, bringing the total to 50,” he added.

Another resident, Abdullahi Zakari, confirmed the increased death toll.

Zakari told AFP that many residents, including women and children, fled towards a river in an attempt to escape the gunmen.

“Unfortunately, several people drowned while trying to flee the attack.”

Bodies recovered from river

Recovering victims can be difficult when residents flee and communities become scattered during attacks. Police and Amnesty International said some of the bodies were discovered in a nearby river.

The Taraba State Police Command spokesperson, Victor Msheliza, told AFP on Sunday that officers were still searching the affected area.

He said officers had “found some (bodies) in the river” belonging to people who were trying to escape the attackers.

Msheliza added that police personnel were deployed to the community immediately after the attack, with additional deployments being sent to the area.

Amnesty International, however, put the death toll at 52 on Sunday, saying the attackers had arrived “in large numbers and set ablaze shops and market stalls”.

“The bandits invaded in large numbers,… chased people and they headed toward the river to escape,” and drowned, Amnesty International Nigeria director Isa Sanusi told AFP.

“Some were chased into the river by the gunmen”.

Banditry has become an increasingly serious security challenge in northwestern and central Nigeria, where heavily armed gangs operate across remote rural areas, often overwhelming overstretched security forces.

The gangs raid villages, kidnap residents for ransom and impose illegal “taxes” on farmers and mining operations in areas with limited government presence.

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