Nigeria launches operation to rescue about 600 abducted people
President Bola Tinubu announced a rescue operation on August 25 after residents reported that about 600 people, including women and children, were abducted in Niger State.
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- President Bola Tinubu announced a rescue operation on August 25 after residents reported that about 600 people, including women and children, were abducted in Niger State.
Nigeria has launched an operation to rescue about 600 people abducted from communities in Niger State, President Bola Tinubu announced on Tuesday, August 25, 2026.
The operation follows a mass kidnapping linked to an attack on worshippers during Friday prayers in Dekara village in north-central Nigeria. Residents told media that gunmen raided several communities and took women, children and older people.
A video circulated by the armed group showed large groups of captives in a forested area. Four residents identified people they knew in the footage, according to an independent report published on August 24. The exact date and location of the recording could not be independently verified, and police had not confirmed the reported total number abducted.
Mass kidnappings for ransom have become a persistent security threat in parts of north-western and north-central Nigeria, where armed groups have targeted villages, schools, roads and places of worship.
Authorities had not announced rescues or arrests at the time of the latest source reports. The operation remains active, and the number of captives should be treated as an estimate pending an official accounting.
