STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We are also paying attention to Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, big oil producer and a location of much violence. More than 160 people were killed there by suspected Islamist militants. It's the deadliest armed attack so far this year. NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu is in Lagos. And we should warn, this story contains descriptions of violence.
EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Details are still emerging from a deadly attack on Tuesday night in yet another region in Nigeria, gripped by rising violence.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: At least 40 persons, including women and children, have been killed.
AKINWOTU: What began as reports of dozens dead aired on local media channel TVC has emerged as far more deadly. Close to 170 people were killed in Kwara, a state near the capital Abuja, according to the Red Cross. Many were shot at point-blank range and burnt alive, according to Amnesty International. An unknown number of women and children were also abducted. Nigeria is in the grip of multiple overlapping security crises, from Jihadist insurgencies to mass kidnappings and banditry. The army had been recently deployed after pleas from villagers in the grip of several armed groups that have made a haven in mineral-rich forests in west and central Nigeria.
JAMES BARNETT: The security challenges in northwestern and north central Nigeria are really pretty immense.
AKINWOTU: James Barnett is an academic researching armed groups in Nigeria and a fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. Among the many armed groups are factions of Boko Haram, which began in the northeast and have splintered and spread to other parts of the country. They're suspected by local officials to be behind this latest attack.
BARNETT: The initial reports indicate that this attack was probably a retaliatory attack by some Jihadist militants against a community that they perceived as having worked with the Nigerian military.
AKINWOTU: And amid the worsening security crisis, this week, the U.S. Army revealed a, quote, "small contingent" of U.S. troops were now based there to train Nigeria's army. It follows U.S. strikes in northwest Nigeria in December against militants it said were targeting Christians. But U.S. authorities did not reveal the number of troops or how long they would remain in the country.
Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos.
(SOUNDBITE OF NATHAN GASS' "RAIN IN JUNE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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