The death toll from Tuesday’s armed attack on a mosque and nearby homes in Unguwan Mantau, Malumfashi district of Nigeria’s Katsina state, has climbed to at least 50, with around 60 others abducted.
The assault began during dawn prayers, when gunmen on motorcycles opened fire inside the mosque before spreading through the community, torching houses and seizing women and girls.
Local officials said the updated figures include at least 20 victims who were burned alive in their homes.
Authorities reported that security forces intercepted the attackers before they could strike two other villages, but the fleeing gunmen carried out the massacre in Mantau.
Hospital records initially registered 27 bodies, but the toll has since risen as more victims were accounted for, with many buried immediately according to Islamic rites.
The attack marks a sharp escalation of violence in northwest Nigeria, where criminal gangs continue to carry out deadly raids, kidnappings, and extortion against rural communities.
