The death toll from an attack by criminal gangs on a Nigerian town last week has jumped to 62 after more bodies were recovered, Nigerian emergency services said Wednesday.
Thousands were also displaced by the violence, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (Nema).
Gunmen from a suspected bandit gang on motorcycles swarmed Binnari, in the northeastern Taraba state shortly after Friday prayers, killing dozens and looting stores.
While northeastern Nigeria is home to a long-running jihadist insurgency, Taraba is also plagued by gangs of criminals, known in the west African country as bandits, who are driven by money rather than ideology or religion.
NEMA said in a statement that the attack “claimed 62 lives and left 52 persons injured,” based on the report it received from the Taraba state emergency services.
A Taraba state police spokesman had told AFP at the weekend that at least 48 people were killed in the violence.
He said 10 bodies were recovered on Friday while 23 more were found in surrounding bushes the following day, along with 15 that drowned in a river while fleeing the attack.
Residents of the town had put the death toll at 50 on Saturday.
The police spokesman did not respond to an AFP inquiry on the new death toll.
“The incident reportedly affected 7,123 persons and displaced 5,187 residents, creating an urgent humanitarian situation in the community,” Nema said in the statement.
The emergency agency said it was working with local authorities to assess the needs of the people displaced by the attack for the provision of “appropriate humanitarian assistance.”
Banditry is a growing problem in northwest and central Nigeria, with powerful gangs battling the overstretched police and military across hard-to-reach, rural locations.
They raid villages and impose levies on farmers and mining operations in areas with little state presence.
Amnesty International, in a post on X, blamed the Nigerian authorities for leaving some rural communities “at the mercy of gunmen that repeatedly commit atrocities with impunity.”
“Consistent failure of the authorities to bring the suspected perpetrators to justice is clearly emboldening impunity,” the rights group said on social media.
