Terrorists suspected to be members of the Sadiku-led Boko Haram faction have killed two mobile police officers and injured another during an attack on a police camp in Niger State.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the attack occurred in Papiri, a rural village where more than 300 students and staff of St Mary’s Catholic School were abducted in November 2025.
According to PremiumTimes, sources, including security officials and local authorities, said the terrorists stormed the police camp in the early hours of Wednesday.
A village leader, who spoke on the incident, said the attack began when many residents were still asleep.
He said, “It was around 4:30 am. Many were still sleeping, but the loud sounds of gunfire woke everyone up.”
A mobile police officer who survived the attack said the terrorists came in large numbers and surrounded the camp.
He said the officers engaged the attackers during the raid, adding that about five of the terrorists were killed.
The officer said, “We engaged them and killed about five of them. Unfortunately, we lost two officers and one other sustained injuries to his arm.”
According to him, more police officers have since been deployed to the community to strengthen security.
However, residents said fear of another attack had forced many families to flee Papiri and seek refuge in nearby villages.
A resident of a neighbouring village, Idris Alhaji, said many people displaced from Papiri had moved into surrounding communities since the attack.
He said many “people from Papiri have been sleeping in our community since the incident happened.”
The village leader also confirmed that he had evacuated his family members from Papiri following the attack.
Residents said the latest incident had renewed fears in the area, especially because Papiri had previously witnessed a mass abduction involving students and staff of St Mary’s Catholic School.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the Sadiku-led Boko Haram faction has been linked to repeated attacks on communities around the Kainji Lake National Park, which stretches across Niger and Kwara states.
Before moving into the Kainji axis, the group reportedly operated for years in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State, where it carried out attacks, recruited locals and abducted women and children.
Its activities in Shiroro created a serious humanitarian crisis, with many communities displaced and residents forced to abandon their homes.
Security sources said the group had begun to repeat the same pattern in its new base around the Kainji axis.
The group is currently said to be holding more than 150 women and children abducted from Woro in Kwara State, as well as Kasuwan Daji and Konkoso in Niger State.
The faction has also been accused of planting improvised explosive devices on rural roads and targeting travellers, traders and residents moving between communities.
Recent explosive attacks reportedly killed at least five locals and destroyed a major bridge linking several communities to local and border markets in Nigeria and the Benin Republic.
Security sources said the Sadiku faction now operates in the same general area as Ansaru terrorists and some Sahelian jihadist groups that recently infiltrated the axis.