Arya News - Boko Haram Islamist militants killed 75 in attacks on two villages in the Nigerian state of Kwara on Tuesday after locals rejected calls to surrender.
Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Boko Haram Islamist militants killed 75 Muslims in attacks on two villages in the Nigerian state of Kwara this week after locals rejected calls to surrender, regional officials said Thursday.
The 75 "were massacred" Tuesday after the Islamist militants told them to "surrender to extremists who preached a strange doctrine," Kwara Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq said, as reported by the BBC .
Another official said 78 have been buried after the attacks and estimated another 170 dead bodies are to be recovered.
The killings happened in the villages of Woro and Nuku, and 38 others were taken as others fled the area while Boko Haram militants set fire to homes and shops in the villages, Kwara House Assembly member Saidu Baba Ahmed said.
The attacks started at 5 p.m. local time and lasted for between 3 and 4 hours and were among several carried out across the country over the past several days.
Nigerian officials said they have deployed troops to the area to prevent further attacks.
Officials for Amnesty International Nigeria condemned the attacks and said gunmen killed more than 200 while razing homes and looting shops in the two villages.
Another 21 were killed in an attack on Doma Village in the state of Kwara, Amnesty International Nigeria said.
"This is perhaps one of the deadliest recent attacks in this part of Kwara state that has been consistently attacked by gunmen.
Witnesses told Amnesty International that the "gunmen held a free rein while rounding up young men and entire families and slaughtering them."
The agency said the "manner and time the gunmen took to carry out these attacks shows a stunning absence of any form of security for the protection of lives" and called on Nigerian authorities to do more to protect all people.
The gunmen were "sending letters and pamphlets to the community over two weeks" before carrying out the deadly attacks, Amnesty International Nigeria officials said.
"Amnesty International has been documenting attacks on rural communities in the north, and ... authorities have clearly left such communities at the mercy of rampaging gunmen," they added.
The attacks were the deadliest reported in the area in recent months as armed groups increasingly have targeted civilians in north-central and northwest Nigeria in recent months, according to the United Nations .
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his "heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and to the people and government of Nigeria" in a prepared statement.
Guterres "reiterates the solidarity of the United Nations with the government and people of Nigeria in their efforts to fight terrorism and violent extremism and stresses the importance of bringing the perpetrators to justice," the statement said.