Police: ‘Bandits Torch Police Station, Church In Nigeria’s Niger State’

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

ABUJA (Worthy News) – Suspected armed bandits attacked a community in Nigeria’s north-central Niger State, police said, burning a police station, torching part of a church, and abducting several residents.

Police confirmed that attackers raided Agwara Local Government Area in the early hours of Sunday, engaging officers in a gun battle before setting the divisional police station ablaze.

The assailants later moved to a United Methodist Church (UMC) in the community, where part of the building was also burned, residents and officials said.

At least five people were abducted during the raid, though their identities were not immediately known.

A local resident, Hussaini Mohammed, told reporters by telephone that fear had spread through the town, forcing many residents to flee.

POLICE REVEAL EARLY MORNING ATTACK

Niger State police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun confirmed the assault, saying armed bandits, whom he also referred to as “terrorists,” invaded Agwara and set the station ablaze after confronting officers on the ground.

“The terrorists later moved to the UMC church in the community, burnt part of the church, proceeded to other areas and abducted about five persons,” Abiodun said in a statement.

He added that security forces were continuing monitoring operations and would provide further updates.

There were conflicting reports about casualties, with some accounts suggesting at least one person may have been killed, though police said no deaths had been confirmed.

Sunday’s raid is the latest in a wave of kidnappings and attacks across Nigeria’s northern and central regions, where heavily armed criminal gangs—often referred to locally as “bandits”—have repeatedly targeted villages, travelers, schools, and places of worship.

NIGERIA FACES KIDNAPPINGS AND VIOLENCE

In November 2025, more than 300 students and teachers were seized from a Catholic school in Niger State, with dozens escaping and others later released in batches, according to reports.

Analysts note that Nigeria’s insecurity involves multiple separate conflicts, including ransom-seeking bandit gangs in the northwest and north-central regions, as well as Islamist insurgencies in the northeast led by groups such as Boko Haram and its offshoot ISWAP. Authorities have not linked the Agwara attack to any specific extremist organization.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, remains deeply divided by armed conflicts, criminal violence, and communal unrest that often affects both Christians and Muslims.

The worsening security crisis has also drawn international attention. U.S. President Donald J. Trump has publicly highlighted attacks on Christians in Nigeria, while advocacy groups such as Open Doors, which tracks persecution worldwide, reported that more than 3,400 Christians were killed for their faith in the reporting period covered by its World Watch List 2026, the highest known toll of any country globally.

In late December 2025, the United States launched airstrikes on what it and Nigerian officials described as armed group targets in northwestern Sokoto State, an operation Nigeria said it approved as part of efforts to curb growing insecurity.

Security forces said investigations were continuing into the Agwara attack and that efforts were underway to rescue abducted residents.

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