Gunmen abducted more than 60 people — including worshippers leaving Friday prayers — in coordinated attacks on villages and a mosque in Nigeria's Niger State (a landlocked central state, distinct from the neighbouring country Niger), with local survivors blaming the Lakurawa armed group for the assault. Police confirmed kidnappings had occurred in the Borgu Local Government Area and said a joint security detachment had been deployed, though the exact number of victims and reports of fatalities could not be independently verified. The violence continued into Saturday, with residents reporting that attackers returned to seize more hostages and planted landmines on escape routes, killing at least one fleeing family — underscoring the growing reach of armed groups in Nigeria's central and northwestern regions, where mass abductions have become a multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise.