A man walking through destroyed houses and scattered footwears on the ground next to a mosque at Woro Kaiama, Kwara State, after the attack
The incident occurred last Tuesday. Community leaders and residents said on Sunday that the death toll had risen to 150, as search and rescue efforts were still ongoing.
Bagu, who is receiving treatment for a gunshot wound to the thigh at the Kwara State University Teaching Hospital (KWASUTH), told Daily Trust that he fled during the attack and has since been unable to establish contact with his family.
“As I speak with you now, I don’t know if my wife and six children are alive. I have not heard from them since Tuesday, after the incident. I also lost my phone,” he said.
Bagu, who said he is from Jos and had come to Woro for farming, explained that the attackers, numbering about 200 and riding motorcycles, invaded the community and began shooting sporadically.
He appealed to the government to assist victims of the attack, saying they had been left with nothing.
Another survivor, Mr Joshua Dame, a farmer from Plateau State, also spoke to Daily Trust from his hospital bed at KWASUTH, narrating how he narrowly escaped.
“I am from Plateau State, but I came to farm in Kaiama,” Dame said.
According to him, he was on his way from the farm to town when he encountered the attackers.
“I was in the farm around 10 in the morning. Later, around 3pm, I needed to go to town to buy detergent to use on the farm. I called my friend, whom I farm with, and while we were on our way, we suddenly saw people wearing army uniforms, numbering about 200, heavily armed and on motorcycles. They filled the whole place,” he said.
Dame said the gunmen opened fire immediately.
“They shot my friend and killed him instantly. A bullet entered my stomach, came out through my right side and broke my right hand,” he narrated.
He said he pretended to be dead after being shot.
“I heard one of them saying it appeared I was not dead and that they should pump more bullets into me, but they later left. They went away with my motorcycle and moved into the town, killing and burning everything in sight,” he said.
Badly wounded, Dame said he crawled into the forest and hid until soldiers rescued him the following morning.
“I crawled inside the forest from when I was shot till the time the army came over, 8 hours in the pool of my blood, and tried to keep my voice low despite the pain because I don’t know whether they are still around. I don’t know how I survived, honestly. It was the army that took us to Kaiama Teaching Hospital before we were later brought here,” he said.
Death toll rises to 150
Meanwhile, community leaders said on Sunday that casualty figures from the attack had risen to 150.
The village head of Woro, Alhaji Salihu Bio Umar, said he was yet to hear from his wife and children, as well as others believed to have been kidnapped.
“Nobody has called us to ask for anything so far,” he said.
“The additional figures are that 37 Muslim victims were buried on Thursday, in addition to the earlier 75 bodies already interred, while one more body was discovered on Saturday.
“We have also recorded 21 Christian corpses, eight Togolese nationals and eight Hausas from Zakirai, a Hausa group,” he said.
He added that “over 100 persons were still missing and believed to have been kidnapped.
“The Emir directed that I compile their names, and this is what we have arrived at so far. I will let you know the total figures once the compilation is completed,” he said.
Another resident, Dr Abdul Woro, said three additional bodies were discovered on Friday.
“We saw two burnt bodies inside a house that was set ablaze and another body in the forest,” he said.
He added that there was the smell of decomposing bodies in the forest and that the community was still searching, noting that while security operatives remained in the area, the community was largely deserted.
Daily Trust reports that with the recovery of one additional body on Saturday, the official and documented death toll from the Woro attack has risen to 150, according to community leaders.
The figure includes 113 Muslim victims, 21 Christians, 8 Togolese nationals and 8 Hausas.
Meanwhile, Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has approved the appointment of a seven-member committee to interface with the Woro community on humanitarian support.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Rafiu Ajakaye, said the committee would engage community leaders on rebuilding efforts, survivors’ needs and other outstanding issues.
Also, Vice President Kashim Shettima, during a visit to Kwara State at the weekend over the incident, confirmed the deployment of a battalion of Nigerian Army troops to the forests of the state.
Shettima, who led a federal government delegation on a condolence visit to Ilorin on Saturday, said the deployment was aimed at neutralising the threat and restoring peace to affected communities.
He described the massacre as an unacceptable violation of citizens’ right to live and practise their faith peacefully, noting that the scale of the killings had shocked Nigerians.
One killed as forest guards clash with bandits in Kwara
One of the newly deployed forest guards assigned to combat banditry in Kwara State has been killed during an operation in the forest.
The incident occurred on Sunday in Koro community, Ekiti Local Government Area of the state.
It was gathered that forest guards, working alongside local vigilantes, had received intelligence about the presence of suspected armed bandits in the bush.
Acting on the information, the operatives moved into the area but were reportedly ambushed during the encounter.
A forest guard, identified simply as Samuel, was shot during the ambush and later confirmed dead.
There were also reports that the attackers set more than five motorcycles ablaze during the incident.
Confirming the incident, the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, Adekimi Ojo, told Daily Trust on Sunday that the situation was not a direct attack on Koro community.
“During the confrontation, one forest guard was killed. His AK 47 rifle and 15 rounds of ammunition were intact and were later recovered. They did not take them away,” Ojo said.
