Dozens of Bodies Recovered After Shiroro Attack as Death Toll Rises in Niger State

Dozens of Bodies Recovered After Shiroro Attack as Death Toll Rises in Niger State

The death toll from the attack on Bagna and Erena communities in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State has risen sharply, with residents and local media reporting that at least 61 bodies have now been recovered and some community sources claiming the number has passed 70 by Friday evening. The attack, carried out in the early hours of Tuesday, has left a widening trail of deaths, abductions, displacement and burned homes, while authorities and residents continue to differ over the scale of the massacre. 

One important point in the reporting is the date. Several social media posts circulating locally referred to “Tuesday 05 April,” but official and mainstream news reports place the attack on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Police in Niger State said the assailants struck Bagna at about 6:30 a.m. on April 7 before moving on to Erena, while Reuters and AP both reported that the attacks happened early Tuesday in the two villages. 

In the first hours after the assault, the casualty picture was confused and sharply contested. Niger State police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun initially said two vigilante members and a driver attached to the joint security team were killed, with others injured. Residents, however, said from the outset that the toll was far higher, putting the number above 20 and warning that many people had been abducted or were missing in the surrounding bush. That gap between the official early count and local accounts has since narrowed as more bodies have been found.

By Friday, Premium Times reported that no fewer than 61 bodies of civilians, vigilantes and other security operatives had been recovered from surrounding bushes days after the abduction of victims. The report said civilian victims had been buried in Erena, while the bodies of slain security personnel were taken to the Minna General Hospital mortuary. Community sources still insist the number is rising, and some local accounts now say more than 70 corpses have been retrieved, but that higher figure has not yet been independently confirmed by major news organisations or an updated official statement. 

Residents described a coordinated raid by heavily armed attackers arriving on motorbikes in the early morning and operating for hours. Witnesses said the gunmen shot at villagers, looted homes, set houses on fire and forced frightened residents to flee toward nearby settlements, including Gwada Zumba and Galadima Kogo. Channels Television, citing local sources, reported that Bagna, Erena and Yelwa were affected and that homes were burned during the violence. 

The attack also exposed the vulnerability of locally organised defence units. Channels reported that at least 10 vigilantes were killed and many others injured after their camp, which local sources said was shared with Department of State Services personnel, was set ablaze as they tried to confront the attackers. The same report cited claims that around 30 special forces personnel and secret security operatives were among the dead, although those figures have not been confirmed by police or the military. Premium Times separately confirmed that the casualties included vigilantes, civilians and other security operatives, and identified the slain vigilante commander as Manga, who was reportedly rescued alive with gunshot wounds but later died. 

Security forces did eventually respond and residents credited them with repelling the attackers, but the intervention came after extensive damage had already been done. Police said calm was gradually returning and that operatives were monitoring the area. Residents quoted by Premium Times commended the responding forces yet also criticised the government for allegedly failing to act on prior intelligence that might have prevented the killings. 

The identity of the attackers remains another point requiring careful qualification. Police and major wire services mostly referred to them as bandits or armed men. However, local sources and some conflict trackers have attributed the operation to the Sadiku-led Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, a Boko Haram faction that has entrenched itself in parts of Niger State. Africa Defense Forum reported last year that Abubakar Saidu, also known as Sadiku, leads a JAS cell in Shiroro that blends jihadist methods with local bandit networks and has used forest communities as rear bases for attacks on civilians and security forces. Authorities have not publicly issued a definitive attribution for this week’s attack. 

That wider context matters. Shiroro has become one of the most volatile security theatres in north-central Nigeria, where banditry, insurgent infiltration, kidnapping and attacks on farming communities increasingly overlap. Reuters noted that Shiroro is an area where kidnapping gangs and Islamist militants are both known to operate. AP likewise placed the killings within Nigeria’s broader northern security crisis, where insurgency, criminal violence and communal tensions have repeatedly overwhelmed rural communities and exposed the limits of state protection. 

The Niger State government has condemned the attack and acknowledged both deaths and displacement. Official statements cited attacks on Erena, Bagna and Yelwa, describing the violence as barbaric and confirming that homes were destroyed and residents forced to flee. Governor Umaru Bago said the attack was a setback to the state’s security efforts, while the Secretary to the State Government said the government was working with security agencies to intensify operations against the perpetrators. 

For now, the clearest verified picture is that Bagna and Erena were attacked at dawn on Tuesday, April 7; initial official casualty figures captured only the immediate clash; and subsequent recovery operations have pushed the confirmed body count far higher. At least 61 bodies have been reported recovered by credible Nigerian media, while local sources insist the number has risen beyond 70 as more corpses are found in nearby forest areas. Survivors say search teams are still combing bush paths and forest clearings around the villages, so the casualty figure may yet change again as more remains are identified. The final toll, along with the full number abducted, injured or displaced, remains unsettled. 

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Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Gabriel Osa