Thirty-two people have been killed in the dawn terror attack on worshippers at Unguwan Mantau community in Katsina State's Malumfashi Local Government Area on Tuesday.  

Residents were praying Fajr when the attackers, who were identified as bandits, broke into the community mosque at around five in the morning.  

They opened fire on the worshippers in what officials described as a retaliation assault.  Earlier sources had put the number of deceased at 13.  

However, 32 individuals were reported dead and an undetermined number of locals were kidnapped during a state government delegation's mourning visit to the town on Wednesday.

After the Nigerian Air Force launched a quick airstrike that halted the attackers' progress, several of the abducted victims were eventually freed.  In the turmoil that followed, others dispersed and are currently being treated in hospitals.  

The acting governor, Mallam Faruk Jobe, was instructed by Governor Dikko Umar Radda, who is presently on medical leave, to send a powerful delegation to offer condolences to the families of the deceased.  

Traditional leaders and distraught family members welcomed the team to Karfi town, which was headed by Secretary to the State Government Abdullahi Faskari.  

Faskari told the community that the state government would step up security efforts to apprehend the killers, calling the killings "deeply painful and heartbreaking." 

Source