BINNARI, Nigeria — Gunmen killed at least 40 people in an attack on a village in Nigeria's northeastern Taraba state on Friday afternoon, Amnesty International said, Reuters reported on October 24. A large group of gunmen carried out the attack on Binnari village, police said in a statement on Saturday, and Amnesty said that while police had earlier confirmed the killing of 10 people, more bodies were recovered later on Saturday. The attackers invaded the village with heavy gunfire and looted food items from shops, police said.

Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026

Police gave a lower, earlier toll. Officers recovered 10 bodies with gunshot wounds after responding to a distress call, and the attackers had fled by the time they arrived, police told BBC News on Saturday. The gunmen swooped on Binnari, in the Karim Lamido area, mounted on motorcycles just after midday Muslim prayers on Friday, in a rampage that went on for up to four hours, BBC reporting said. Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Mshelizah said officers were able to disperse the gunmen, that the terrain is difficult, and that police were continuing to search the bush nearby for people who might have been killed or wounded — warning the death toll could still rise.

Source: BBC News via The Hona News, Oct 25, 2026

Residents gave a toll between the police and Amnesty figures. Isiyaku Musa and Sa'idu Nuhu both told AFP that more than 20 people were killed. "After the attackers left, we counted more than 20 bodies, and some people were still missing," Nuhu said. "People were running in different directions to escape the attack. Nobody knew where it was safe to go," Musa added. Community leader Malam Abubakar Saifullahi told AFP the attackers arrived on about 50 motorcycles, two men apiece, and looted shops, taking cash, foodstuffs and other provisions, as well as motorcycles abandoned by people fleeing the attack.

Source: AFP via News Central TV, Oct 24, 2026

Amnesty International condemned the attack, saying authorities continue to leave rural communities at the mercy of gunmen, AFP reporting via News Central TV said. "Consistent failure of the authorities to bring the suspected perpetrators to justice is clearly emboldening impunity," the rights group said on social media. Separately on Saturday, the Nigerian military said it had killed 15 people it described as terrorists in an air strike in northeastern Borno State — a military claim reported by AFP/Kumasi reporting, not independently verified in the sources reviewed.

Source: AFP via News Central TV, Oct 24, 2026

Northern Nigeria has experienced a surge in attacks by heavily armed criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, who raid villages, abduct residents for ransom and steal livestock, Reuters noted. While northeastern Nigeria is also home to a long-running jihadist insurgency that has lasted nearly two decades, Taraba faces non-ideological bandit gangs that raid villages, kidnap for ransom and levy 'taxes' on rural communities, AFP reporting said. No group had claimed the Binnari attack in the sources reviewed, and police had not named suspects.

Source: Reuters, Oct 24, 2026