Nigeria rescues more than 300 kidnapping victims in major operation

The Nigerian government announced the release of more than 300 kidnapping victims Wednesday, including 163 taken from a single village in the west of the country earlier this year.

Kidnapping for ransom by criminal groups, jihadists and non-ideological gangs known as bandits has become a major crisis in Nigeria, especially areas with little state presence in the north and centre of the country.

In February, suspected jihadists attacked the village of Woro, Kwara state, near the border with Benin, killing more than 150 people and kidnapping roughly the same amount.

"President Bola Ahmed Tinubu warmly welcomes the successful rescue of 308 Nigerian citizens who were abducted in different attacks in Niger and Kwara states," presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga said.

He added that 163 were from Woro and 145 from Niger State.

The victims were rescued from a location in the Kainji Lake National Park Forest.

Sprawling, often sparsely governed forests and reserves across the country have turned into hideouts for Nigerian criminal groups.

It was "the largest rescue operation ever carried out" in a single day, Onanuga said, in an operation that involving the National Counter-Terrorism Centre, military, the Department of State Services intelligence agency and the police.

Scores held since February attack

Suspected jihadists went on a rampage in Woro earlier this year after they had sent a letter to the village announcing their intention to preach, only to have no one show up.

In apparent retaliation, they burned houses and killed upwards of 165 people and kidnapped an unknown number of people, residents told AFP at the time, though local authorities gave a lower toll.

Media reports had put the number of those kidnapped at 176 -- though as recently as Friday the police in Kwara state said that number was unsubstantiated.

Large parts of the village had been reduced to piles of ash and rubble in the assault.

Tinubu at the time condemned what he called a "beastly attack", deploying an army battalion to the troubled region and blaming Islamist movement Boko Haram -- though the name is often used generically for jihadist groups in Nigeria.

A few months before, the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claimed its first attack on Nigerian soil in the state, near Woro.

Abductions have proved lucrative in Nigeria.
Kidnappings raised some $1.66 million in ransom payments between July 2024 and June 2025, according to a tally by SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based consultancy.

Over the weekend, gunmen kidnapped at least 52 people, including children, in an attack on a village and military base in northwest Nigeria's Zamfara state.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)