NANO: At least 51 people were kidnapped and three killed in attacks over the past three days in four different villages in Nigeria&#39;s northern Kaduna State, security forces said Saturday. The attacks occurred in the southern part of the state, which has a mostly Christian population, and more than 180 people were detained in January during raids on churches. On Saturday, armed men abducted 11 people, including a priest, in the Kajuru Local Government Area, security sources told AFP. A nearby attack on Saturday left three people dead and 38 kidnapped, including a local imam and four members of his congregation. The day before, two people were kidnapped on the road to Maro, also in Kajuru. Assailants destroyed houses in Maro on Thursday, but the number of victims has not been released. No group has claimed responsibility for these attacks. A series of mass kidnappings in late 2025 drew attention to the alarming security situation in Africa&#39;s most populous country. In response, the Nigerian president declared a state of emergency and launched a recruitment drive for military and police personnel. The United States has criticized the West African country&#39;s failure to control the violence, US President Donald Trump denouncing what he said was the &quot;persecution&quot; of Christians -- a favorite rallying call of the American religious right. Most observers insist the killings and kidnappings committed by jihadist groups and criminal gangs have indiscriminately hit Christians and Muslims. Nigeria&#39;s kidnappings have become &quot;a structured and lucrative industry&quot; that generated some $1.7 million between July 2024 and June 2025, according to a report by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy.

Aftermath of a Boko Haram suicide bomb attack last year in Maiduguri, capital of shattered Borno State (AFP/File)

Africa

Dozens were seized and several killed in coordinated attacks on villages in northern Nigeria, amid ongoing violence and weak security.

At least 51 kidnapped, 3 killed in Nigeria attacks

BEIRUT: Israel carried out intense airstrikes on southern Lebanon early Saturday, killing one person, wounding seven, and briefly cutting a highway that links Beirut with parts of south Lebanon, the Health Ministry said. The pre-dawn airstrikes on the village of Msayleh struck a place that sold heavy machinery, destroying a large number of vehicles. A vehicle carrying vegetables that happened to be passing by at the time of the strikes was hit, killing one person and wounding another, according to Hezbollah&rsquo;s Al-Manar TV. The Health Ministry later said that the one slain was a Syrian citizen, while the wounded were a Syrian national and six Lebanese, including two women. The Israeli military said it struck a place where machinery was stored to be used to rebuild infrastructure for the militant Hezbollah group. Since the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war ended in late November with a US-brokered ceasefire, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes killing dozens of people. Israel accuses Hezbollah of trying to rebuild its capabilities after the group suffered heavy losses during the war. Earlier this month, the UN human rights chief, Volker T&uuml;rk, called for renewed efforts to bring a permanent end to hostilities in Lebanon following the war. He said that until the end of September, they have verified 103 civilians killed in Lebanon since the ceasefire. The most recent Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion worth of destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. The war started when Hezbollah began firing rockets across the border on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after a deadly Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel sparked the war in Gaza. Israel responded with shelling and airstrikes in Lebanon, and the two sides became locked in an escalating conflict that became a full-blown war in late September 2024.

Middle East

A pre-dawn Israeli strike hit a machinery site in Msayleh early Saturday, damaging infrastructure and civilian vehicles. The strikes targeted equipment allegedly tied to Hezbollah, amid ongoing post-war tensions that persist despite last year’s ceasefire.


Articles tagged with "Attack"

At least 51 kidnapped, 3 killed in Nigeria attacks

Israel strikes south Lebanon, killing 1 and wounding 7