At least 30 people were killed when armed men attacked the village of Kasuwan-Daji in Nigeria's Niger state. The attackers came from a nearby forest on Saturday. They set fire to the local market, looted shops, and kidnapped several people, police said. A local journalist told BBC Hausa, "The gunmen entered the town on motorcycles carrying weapons, rounded up people and then proceeded to slaughter them, while others were shot dead." Abdullahi Rofia from the Niger State Emergency Management Agency said villagers are terrified. "They are hiding, they are too afraid to talk to anybody. They are scared that if you talk, they will turn and do the same to you." Niger state police spokesperson Wasiu Abiodun said an emergency team is now helping the injured and security forces are working to rescue the kidnapped. The government has banned paying ransoms to these groups, labeling them as terrorists, but such payments are reportedly common. A witness said there were no security forces in the village during the attack. "We want the government to help us. In the past, we used to hear about this problem in other places, but now it is happening in our villages," he said. Fear is causing many to flee their homes. "We are dying like chickens, and does the government care about us? The government hears and sees what is happening, but it is not doing anything about it. What can we do as ordinary people?" The attack came just a day after schools in Niger state began reopening. They had been closed due to a mass kidnapping in November, when over 250 students and staff were abducted from St Mary's Catholic school in Papiri. All were later rescued before Christmas.