Unidentified gunmen killed dozens of people in an attack in central Nigeria, underscoring the worsening security crisis facing Africa’s most-populous nation, despite a recent deepening of military cooperation with the U.S.

The assault on Woro village in the southwestern state of Kwara on Tuesday left at least 75 people dead, local government Chairman Abubakar Abdullahi Danladi said by phone. Several victims were badly mutilated, while more casualties have yet to be recovered from surrounding bushland. The Associated Press put the death toll at 162.

The massacre in the largely Muslim village add to a series of other violent incidents in Nigeria since the start of the year, including the abduction of dozens of churchgoers in the northwestern Kaduna State last month, along with an attack on security forces in Borno State in the northeast that left five soldiers and a police officer dead.

The attacks underscore the complexity of Nigeria’s security challenges and the limited progress that’s been made since President Bola Tinubu took office in 2023 with a pledge to tackle widespread insecurity. The authorities have been battling an Islamist insurgency in the northeast for nearly two decades, and have for years faced an epidemic of mass abductions and kidnappings for ransom.

The violence has drawn the scrutiny of the Trump administration, which has designated Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, claiming that Christians are persecuted in the nation. Tinubu has rejected Trump’s characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant.

The US carried out a missile strike on suspected militants in the northwestern state of Sokoto on Dec. 25, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying there’s “more to come.” Since then, the U.S. delivered critical military equipment to Nigeria, while U.S. Africa Command said this week it’s deployed a team of personnel to the country.

“We think the timing of the attacks is notable, especially those linked to Boko Haram and IS, which came shortly after the U.S. confirmed it has some troops on the ground,” Jervin Naidoo, political analyst at Oxford Economics said in a note on Thursday.

Nigeria is home to 230 million people — roughly split between Muslims and Christians — and has a long history of ethnic violence driven by access to resources such as land and water, and terrorism by the likes of jihadist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State.

Kwara state Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq described Tuesday’s attack as a “cowardly expression of frustration by terrorist cells,” in response to ongoing military operations against armed extremists in the state. The 75 victims were Muslim, he said.

Tinubu ordered the army to deploy a battalion to the area to “checkmate the barbaric terrorists and protect defenceless communities.”

The area has seen a number of deadly clashes between armed militias, which are supported by some communities, and religious extremists. It wasn’t immediately clear who the attackers were, although Danladi said survivors described them as mostly teenagers.

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—With assistance from Anthony Osae-Brown.

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