Gunmen stormed four mosques packed with Friday worshippers in Nigeria's north-central Niger State, dragging away as many as 600 women, children and elderly people in what could rank as one of the largest mass abductions in the country's history.

The coordinated raids hit the villages of Dekera, Kpenya, Sabon-Gida and Gidan-Zana in Borgu district on August 21. A local district official said 30 people were killed in the attacks and buried on Sunday, while the traditional ruler of Dekera said at least 2,000 residents fled across the border into neighboring Benin in the panic that followed. Police in the state initially put the number of missing worshippers in the dozens, based on early accounts from a single mosque in Kpenya, before the fuller scale of the coordinated assault across four villages became clear.

Three days later, an armed group circulated a video on Facebook and WhatsApp showing rows of captives, mostly women, children and older worshippers, seated under armed guard in a forest clearing. Reuters said it could not independently verify the roughly 600 figure claimed by residents and the video, but noted that if confirmed it would stand among Nigeria's most audacious mass kidnappings in years. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Tinubu Vows 'We Will Not Rest'

President Bola Tinubu has ordered the armed forces, police, the Department of State Services and other security and intelligence agencies to launch an immediate, coordinated rescue operation, directing commanders to report back to him regularly on efforts to recover every captive.

"You are not alone. The entire nation shares your anguish. We will not rest until your sons, daughters, mothers and fathers are brought back safely to you."

Amnesty International urged authorities to move fast, warning that mass abductions from places of worship are becoming a defining feature of Nigeria's security crisis; the group said at least 1,100 people were abducted nationwide between January and April 2026 alone, and that survivors of past mass kidnappings have reported torture, starvation and sexual violence in captivity. Kidnapping for ransom by heavily armed criminal gangs, often described locally as "bandits," has become endemic across Nigeria's northwest and north-central belt, where groups raid villages, schools and highways largely unchecked by a stretched security apparatus. Analysts say the mosque attack is becoming a political liability for Tinubu ahead of national elections due in January, and security sources expect a ransom demand once the kidnappers make contact, though it remains unclear whether the group is linked to jihadist factions active elsewhere in the region or to purely criminal networks.

For now, families in Borgu district are left waiting for word. Search parties combing the forests around Dekera have yet to report finding any of the hundreds still missing, and the government has not disclosed how many, if any, have so far been freed or located.