Grief and shock have enveloped Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State following the recovery and burial of 78 victims killed in a deadly bandit attack that struck the area earlier in the week.
The remains of the victims were laid to rest on Wednesday evening after Islamic funeral prayers were held around 6:30 pm, moments before the evening prayer. The burial exercise was carried out amid tears, fear and growing uncertainty, as residents warned that the death toll could still rise.
Honourable Saidu Baba Ahmed, who represents the Gwanabe Gwaria constituency in the Kwara State House of Assembly and was present during the burial, confirmed that 78 bodies had so far been recovered. According to him, the victims comprised 75 males and three females, while at least 35 residents, most of them women, were abducted by the attackers and taken into the surrounding forests.
Ahmed disclosed that the corpses were buried in groups due to their number, with some interred in mass graves containing 10, 15 and 20 bodies. He added that local search efforts were ongoing, noting that many villagers were still missing and believed to have fled into nearby bushes for safety.
“There is fear that the number of casualties may rise to over 170 as people continue to search the forests for missing residents,” the lawmaker said.
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Further details emerging from the community revealed that two children of the village head were among those killed in the attack. Sources also confirmed that the bandits set the monarch’s palace ablaze, along with several houses and shops, leaving widespread destruction in their wake.
A community leader and former lawmaker, Honourable Aliyu Mande, described the attack as catastrophic, insisting that the scale of the killings was far higher than earlier reports suggested. He said the loss was particularly painful as one of the slain children of the village head had recently graduated from a School of Nursing in 2025.
Mande lamented that the devastation was “huge and unimaginable,” adding that the community had been thrown into mourning and displacement. He confirmed that security forces, including soldiers and forest guards, have since taken control of the affected area in an effort to restore order and prevent further attacks.
The incident has renewed concerns over worsening insecurity in Kwara’s border communities, with residents calling for urgent and sustained security intervention to prevent further loss of lives.
