Nigerian security forces fire live rounds at protesters after 37 miners, many of them children, die in custody

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Security forces in Minna, the capital of Nigeria's Niger State, shot at crowds demanding justice after 37 people — many of them children aged 14 to 18 — were found dead in cells run by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Survivors told reporters the miners suffocated in overcrowded, poorly ventilated cells, directly contradicting officials who initially blamed a disease outbreak. A 24-hour curfew was imposed on Friday after protesters torched government buildings, and at least one person lay dead on the streets.

Officials buried all 37 bodies on Thursday in line with Islamic tradition before post-mortems could be carried out, raising serious doubts about whether the true cause of death will ever be established.

One mother, Shafa'atu Suleiman, said officials refused to let families deliver food to detainees and demanded the equivalent of £75 per person to release them before her son Abdullahi died.

The state commandant has been suspended, but Niger State Governor Umar Bago admitted many victims were children pulled out of school to work in the mines.