At least 18 people died in a communal clash in Niger State’s Rafi Local Government Area this week, according to the state police command, in violence that local officials link to a protracted land dispute between herder and farming communities. The deadliest incident occurred on the night of 1 July, when assailants set a two-bedroom dwelling ablaze in Angwan-Baago village, burning 15 people to death. A separate attack in the same area killed one other person, bringing the total to 18, police spokesman Wasiu Abiodun said. However, a United Nations security report cited by French media on the same day described a much larger assault: it said armed herder militias wielding machetes attacked ethnic Kamuku farmers in Tegina, also in Rafi district, killing at least 42 people, with a subsequent reprisal leaving six herders dead. The discrepancy in casualty figures remains unresolved, and Nigerian authorities have not commented on the UN report.

In the northeastern state of Borno, gunmen stormed Government Day Secondary School in Lassa on 29 June as students sat national examinations, firing sporadically and abducting an unconfirmed number of pupils. Military spokesman Captain Mohammed Goni said troops tracked the attackers, rescued 10 students and teachers, but one soldier and a paramilitary officer were killed in the firefight. Borno police said other students were still missing, and search operations continued in nearby forests. A government delegation led by the education commissioner visited victims’ families and the injured, assuring them of ongoing efforts to secure the release of those still held.

Further violence was reported in Bauchi and Benue states. In Bauchi’s Ningi area, bandits killed two Qur’anic students and abducted three residents in a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday, according to residents and police. The attackers later demanded a ransom, which was reportedly reduced from 100 million naira to 10 million naira. In Benue, gunmen killed at least 10 people in Saai community, Katsina-Ala, in an attack that the state governor condemned as a “cowardly assault.” The governor ordered additional security deployments. Separately, gunmen abducted a clergyman and two church members in Guma Local Government Area.

In the southwestern state of Oyo, a joint police and vigilante operation rescued two kidnap victims and killed one suspected abductor in a forest gun battle, the police command said. A third victim fled during the exchange and is believed safe. The operation followed the abduction of three men from a camp in Ipapo on 29 June. Security forces across the affected regions say investigations are ongoing, and provisional casualty figures may rise as search and reconciliation efforts continue.