Jordan condemns terrorist attack in Nigeria

AMMAN — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday condemned the terrorist attack targeting Niger State in central Nigeria, which left dozens of people dead, injured, or abducted.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Fouad Majali reaffirmed the Kingdom’s full solidarity with the government and people of the friendly Federal Republic of Nigeria, reiterating Jordan’s rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at destabilising security and stability, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Majali expressed sincere condolences to the government and people of Nigeria and the victims’ families, wishing the injured a speedy recovery and the kidnapped a safe return.

Suspected jihadists abducted and killed dozens of people in an attack during Friday prayers in the villages of Dikera and Binzi. No official toll has yet been released, according to AFP.

In a video circulating on social media, several hundred people, many of them women and children, were seen gathered in a forest and presented as hostages taken from Dikera. No ransom demand was mentioned.

A survivor of the attack told AFP last week that the assailants were members of the jihadist group Lakurawa, which some researchers have linked to a regional branch of the Islamic State movement.

Another survivor blamed Ansaru, another local jihadist group.

Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency for 17 years. The insurgency is concentrated in the northeast, but Friday’s attack struck in a central western zone near the Benin border.