Jihadists plan to attack Nigerian capital – leaked memo

Jihadists are plotting attacks on Abuja airport and a prison on the outskirts of Nigeria‘s capital, according to an internal memo prepared by the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) seen by AFP on Thursday.

The memo, dated 13 April, calls for an “enhanced level of security within the Federal Capital Territory and its environs”, after the NCS received a “credible report” that Boko Haram and its rival Islamic State West Africa Province splinter group were planning a “series of coordinated attacks”.

Potential targets include the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport and Kuje prison, both on the outskirts of Abuja, and the Wawa military prison in neighbouring Niger state, according to the memo.

Kuje prison was the site of a massive jailbreak orchestrated by ISWAP in 2022.

Earlier this month, the Kuje area council in Abuja had instituted a dusk-to-dawn curfew in at least four villages “following credible intelligence regarding a potential kinetic assault” on the prison, according to a separate report by the council seen by AFP.

Uptick in violence

Nigeria has been fighting a jihadist insurgency since 2009, though violence has ticked up in the last year.

Earlier in April, the US embassy in Abuja told “non-emergency” staff they could leave the country “due to the deteriorating security situation”.

Nigerian government officials insisted the capital was safe and was not under any imminent attack.

The country’s information minister dismissed the US government’s advice as a “precautionary measure based on internal protocols”.

According to the customs memo, “ISWAP operatives have already infiltrated the (Federal Capital territory) to facilitate the attacks”.

The Wawa attack is “reportedly being orchestrated” by Boko Haram’s Niger state cell, “in collaboration with elements of” the Nigerian jihadist group Ansaru and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM, which is active in the neighbouring Sahel.

The plot against the airport “reveals a concerning correlation between … recent large-scale attacks on aviation facilities in Niger”, including an attack claimed by the Islamic State Sahel Province on the airport in the capital Niamey, the memo said.

Hundreds of prisoners, including suspected IS and Boko Haram jihadists, escaped after ISWAP fighters attacked the Kuje prison in 2022.

It is located on the far outskirts of the capital, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Nigeria’s presidential villa.

Boko Haram and ISWAP have recently intensified attacks on bases in the country’s north-east as their 17-year campaign to establish a caliphate grinds on.

The conflict has killed more than 40,000 and displaced around two million, according to UN figures.

AFP

Related story: Boko Haram violence: Abuja buries senior army officers killed in attacks

Boko Haram violence: Abuja buries senior army officers killed in attacks

Nigeria’s defence minister has attended the funeral of several senior military officers killed in a surge of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast. The officers were laid to rest in Maiduguri, as armed groups intensify violence across the region. On Monday, Boko Haram fighters stormed an army base in Monguno, north of Maiduguri, killing a commander and six soldiers.

Al Jazeera

Related story: Up to 200 civilians killed in Nigeria after air force 'misfire' on market

Nigeria Drops Terror Charges Against Former Justice Minister

 

The Federal Government, on Wednesday, withdrew the terrorism financing charge it filed against the immediate past Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, and his son, Abdulaziz.

The FG, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, applied to substitute the charge with an amended one concerning the defendants’ alleged illegal possession of arms and ammunition.

It told the court that the arms and live cartridges were found in Malami’s residence in Birnin Kebbi.

Following the development, Malami — who served as Justice Minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, under former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration — and his son took fresh pleas of not guilty to the five-count amended charge.

The defence lawyer, Mr. Shuaibu Arua, SAN, who did not oppose the withdrawal and substitution of the initial charge, persuaded the court, however, to allow the defendants to retain the bail that was initially granted to them.

The application for the defendant’s bail was not challenged by prosecution counsel.

Consequently, trial Justice Joyce Abdulmalik held that the bail the court granted the defendants on February 27, as well as all the conditions already fulfilled, would subsist.

The court subsequently fixed May 26 and June 15 for trial.

It will be recalled that the Department of State Services (DSS) arraigned Malami and his son before the court on February 3.

The former Justice Minister was initially accused of knowingly abetting terrorism financing by refusing to prosecute terrorism financiers whose case files had been brought to his office as AGF.

Both Malami and his son were jointly accused of unlawful possession of firearms, offences punishable under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, and the Firearms Act, 2004.

In the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/63/2026, Malami and Abdulaziz were accused of storing firearms at their residence in Gesse Phase II, Birnin Kebbi LGA, Kebbi State, without lawful authority.

The defendants pleaded not guilty to the allegations and were granted bail in the sum of N200 million each, with two sureties each in like sum.

Some of the counts in the charge, read: “That you Abubakar Malami, Adult, Male, and Abdulaziz Abubakar Malami, Adult, Male, sometime in December, 2025, at Geeze Phase II Area, Birnin Kebbi LGA, Kebbi State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did engage in preparation to commit acts of terrorism by having in your possession and without license, a Sturm Magnum 17 – 0101 firearm, Sixteen (16) Redstar AAA 5’20 live rounds of Cartridges and Twenty-Seven (27) expended Redstar and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 29 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

“That you, Abubakar Malami, Adult, Male, and Abdulaziz Abubakar Malami, Adult, Male, sometime in December, 2025, at Geeze Phase II Area, Birnin Kebbi LGA, Kebbi State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, without a license, did have in your possession Twenty-Seven (27) expended Redstar AAA 5’20 live rounds of Cartridges and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 (1) (b) (ii) of the Firearms Act, CAP F28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1) (a) (i) of the Firearms Act, CAP F28, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri, Vanguard

Nigeria begins mass trial of 500 terrorism suspects

Nigeria has begun the prosecution of more than 500 people accused of involvement in militant attacks in one of the country's largest ever terrorism trials.

The suspects face charges linked to aiding and abetting terrorism, particularly in the north-east where an insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist group began 17 years ago.

Since then insecurity has spread to many other areas of the West African nation, leaving communities, often those in rural areas, at the mercy of mushrooming militant groups and gangs that kidnap for ransom.

The mass trial opened on Tuesday at a high court in the capital, Abuja, where 227 suspects were arraigned before 10 judges, according to the attorney general.

Hundreds of people have lost their lives in bombings and various attacks across Nigeria this year alone.

Very few people are ever prosecuted over terror attacks - and suspects are often detained and spend years in custody without facing trial.

According to the AFP news agency, gunmen killed at least 20 people on Wednesday in the western state of Niger. Residents say the attackers raided villages in Shiroro district, an area where kidnapping gangs and Islamist militants are known to operate.

Security was tight during the court session on Tuesday, with suspects transported in heavily guarded convoys under military, police and intelligence supervision.

International observers, including human rights groups and the Nigerian Bar Association, were also present in court.

The defendants are alleged to have taken part in attacks mainly in northern Nigeria, while others face charges of supporting militants through funding, supplying arms and logistics.

Five of the accused have already been given varying jail terms - from seven to 20 years - after pleading guilty to charges that included selling livestock, supplying food and information to militant groups.

Attorney General Lateef Fagbemi said the scale of the operation showed the government's resolve to deal with the matter.

"The federal government is committed to ensuring that due process is followed while bringing those involved in terrorism to justice," he said.

Security expert Bashir Galma, a retired army major, told the BBC that the trial, which is expected to continue in phases, was a "positive development" and a "significant milestone" in Nigeria's fight against terrorism.

"For years Nigerians have been complaining about why they keep these suspects [in custody] instead of making them face the law for what they are suspected of doing," he said.

"This will bring some level of peace for people whose loved ones were killed or injured."

The trial would also dispelled rumours that suspects were routinely released after arrest "so that they can go back to their terrorism business", the analyst added.

However, he predicted that some of the accused could be released soon, given that they were arrested many years ago - a factor he said the judges would likely take into consideration.

By Mansur Abubakar and Chris Ewokor, BBC

Northern Nigeria on edge following series of attacks

A renewed wave of attacks in northern Nigeria, including suspected suicide bombings targeting crowded public places, has heightened tensions. At least 20 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured by militia in Borno State. The violence has also raised fresh security concerns ahead of Nigeria’s next general elections, with analysts warning it could depress voter turnout in the northeast, where displacement and fear remain widespread.

CGTN Africa

Nigerian army says 80 militants killed

Nigerian soldiers killed at least 80 suspected militants near a military base in the northeastern Borno state, the country's army said on Wednesday.

Backed by air support, the Nigerian military said it repelled a coordinated overnight assault by insurgents of an unclear affiliation near the Niger border.
Attack comes on heels of suicide bombings

Wednesday's attack follows escalating jihadi violence in the conflict-battered state by Boko Haram and its rival offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province. Earlier this week, three suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 100 others in Borno's capital, Maiduguri.

While no group claimed responsibility for the bombings in the city of around 1.2 million people, officials' suspicion fell on Boko Haram. The jihadi group launched an insurgency 17 years ago in northeastern Nigeria with a radical interpretation of Sharia law.

On Wednesday, Nigerian army spokesman Sani Uba described the military's attack as an "offensive-defensive" ​response.

Authorities added that "no fewer than 80 terrorists" were killed, including "high-profile" commanders.

International media have not been able to independently verify these claims.

Since its insurgency in 2009, Boko Haram has killed more than 40,000 and displaced around 2 million people, according to figures by the United Nations.

By Sean Sinico, DW

Nigeria strengthens security after Maiduguri bombings

Nigeria is on high alert after suicide bombings in Maiduguri killed at least 23 people and injured more than 100 on Monday evening. Authorities have deployed additional troops, with Boko Haram insurgents suspected to have carried out the attack, though no group has claimed responsibility.

CGTN Africa

Related story: Nigeria suicide attacks kill 23, wound more than 100

Nigeria suicide attacks kill 23, wound more than 100

Multiple explosions staged by suspected suicide bombers rocked the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 others, police said Tuesday.

The three blasts, which struck on Monday evening, came after an attack on a military post overnight Sunday to Monday, which authorities blamed on suspected militants.

Combined with the attack on the military position the evening prior and a mosque bombing in December, the assaults have wrecked a peaceful stretch in the city, which had become a relative oasis of calm as Nigeria's long-running insurgency was pushed to the rural hinterlands.

Fighters from Boko Haram and rival group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have recently stepped up attacks in northeastern Nigeria.

Their 16-year campaign to establish a caliphate in the country has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million.

"Preliminary investigation reveals that the incidents were carried out by suspected suicide bombers," police spokesman Nahum Kenneth Daso said in a statement.

"Regrettably, a total of twenty three (23) persons lost their lives, while one hundred and eight (108) others sustained varying degrees of injuries," he added.

An anti-extremist militia member told AFP the death toll from the explosions in the city could be as high as 31.

An AFP reporter at a city hospital on Monday evening saw dozens of wounded people seeking treatment, as well as multiple bodies covered by sheets on the sidewalk outside.

The attackers struck the city's main market, the gate of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and an area around the city's Post Office flyover.

Mala Mohammed, 31, who escaped the market blast said he initially heard two explosions and saw panicked people running.

"At that moment, we were not sure what had happened. But after about two or three minutes, other people who were running along the road started shouting that it was a bomb at the market entrance.

"Many of them ran toward the Post Office area because the market entrance and the Post Office are not far apart. Unfortunately, as they were running towards Post Office, the person who had the explosive device ran into the crowd while people were still trying to escape," said Mohammed.

'Barbaric' attacks

Police said in the early Tuesday morning statement that "normalcy has been fully restored in the affected areas" and that security forces have increased their "presence and surveillance across Maiduguri and its environs to prevent any further occurrences".

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum called the apparent bombings "barbaric" and said "the recent surge in attacks is not unconnected with intense military operations in the Sambisa forest," a known militant stronghold.

The earlier attack was launched around midnight Sunday into Monday, on a Nigerian military post in Ajilari Cross district, a southwestern suburb of Maiduguri and just a few kilometres (miles) from the city's airport.

That same evening there was an attack in the Damboa local government area, south of Maiduguri.

AFP

US warns citizens of fresh terror threat in Nigeria

The United States Embassy in Nigeria has warned of a possible terrorist threat targeting US facilities and US-affiliated schools in the country.

In a security notice issued via its website on Monday, the embassy said the alert was intended to inform American citizens in Nigeria of potential risks and advised them to take additional precautions when visiting U.S. diplomatic missions and affiliated institutions.

The notice asked US citizens to exercise increased vigilance when travelling to its offices in Abuja and Lagos, as well as schools affiliated with the United States.

“The U.S. Embassy in Abuja informs U.S. citizens of a possible terrorist threat against U.S. facilities and U.S.-affiliated schools in Nigeria.

“The Embassy recommends that U.S. citizens take additional precautions when travelling to the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. Consulate General in Lagos, and U.S.-affiliated schools, to include varying times and routes,” the statement read.

The embassy advised American nationals to vary their travel times and routes, avoid predictable routines, and ensure their mobile phones are charged in case of emergencies.

“Be aware of your surroundings, keep a low profile, review your personal security plans, vary your regular routes, keep your cell phone charged in case of emergency, stay alert in public places, avoid crowds and demonstrations, and familiarise yourself with emergency exits when entering buildings,” it said.

The embassy did not spell out the source of the threat.

The warning in Nigeria also comes amid a global security warning by the United States after Washington and Israel attacked Iran, which has responded with missile and drone attacks against its U.S.-aligned neighbours.

It also follows protests in Lagos and some northern states by members of the leadership of the Islamic Movement, who denounced the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in strikes by the United States and Israel.

The development comes as Mansoureh Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, wife of Iran’s Supreme Leader, reportedly died from injuries sustained during recent United States and Israeli strikes at her residence in Tehran.

Recall that President Donald Trump on Christmas Day ordered US bombings of Nigeria, saying he was targeting jihadists.

By Saheed Oyelakin, Punch

US to deploy 200 troops to train Nigerian forces in fight against terrorists

The United States will deploy 200 troops to Nigeria to train its armed forces in their fight against terror groups, Nigerian and US officials said on Tuesday, as Washington increases military cooperation with the West African country.

"We are getting US troops to assist in training and technical support," Major General Samaila Uba, a spokesperson for Nigeria's Defence Headquarters, told AFP.

The Wall Street Journal reported the deployment, which will supplement a small US team already in the country to aid the Nigerians with air strike targeting.

The additional troops, expected to arrive in the coming weeks, will provide "training and technical guidance," including by helping their Nigerian counterparts coordinate operations that involve air strikes and ground troops simultaneously, the US daily said.

A US Africa Command spokesperson confirmed the details of the report to AFP.

Nigeria has been under diplomatic pressure from the United States over insecurity in the country, which US President Donald Trump has characterised as "persecution" and "genocide" against Christians.

Although there are instances where Christians are specifically targeted, Muslims are also killed en masse, with Trump's senior adviser on Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos saying last year Boko Haram and Daesh "are killing more Muslims than Christians."

Abuja rejects allegations of Christian persecution in Nigeria, a framing long used by the US religious right.

So do independent analysts, who point to a broader state failure to curb violence from these groups and armed gangs across swaths of sparsely governed countryside.

Despite the diplomatic pressure, Nigeria and the United States have found common ground in increasing military collaboration.

The US targeted terrorists in northwest Sokoto state with strikes in December, in a joint operation with Nigeria, officials from both countries said.

Going forward, the US military has said it will supply intelligence for Nigerian air strikes and work to expedite arms purchases.

While the 200-troop deployment represents a scaling up of that collaboration, "US troops aren't going to be involved in direct combat or operations," Uba told the Journal.

Nigeria requested the additional assistance, he added.

Africa's most populous country is battling a long-running insurgency concentrated in its northeast, while non-ideological "bandit" gangs conduct kidnappings for ransom and loot villages in the northwest.

AFP

Related story: US announces military team sent to Nigeria after recent attacks

Nigeria insecurity persists despite US military deployment

Nigeria charges nine with 2025 massacre that killed 150

Nigerian prosecutors filed 57 terrorism-related charges on Monday against nine men ​accused of carrying out a deadly attack on ‌Yelwata community in Nigeria's central Benue state in June 2025 that killed ‌about 150 people.

Benue sits in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt, the fault line between the Muslim north and Christian south. Years of violence over land, religion, and ethnicity have proved hard ⁠for the authorities ‌to rein in.

The charges, filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja, say the defendants ‍held planning meetings, raised funds, procured weapons, and mobilised fighters across several states ahead of the June 13 attack, one of the ​deadliest rural assaults in years.

The filing says ringleader Ardo ‌Lawal Mohammed Dono and others met in neighbouring Nasarawa state to raise cash, issue orders and recruit fighters. Several defendants are accused of supplying AK-47s, aiding the gunmen or providing safe sites for planning.

Prosecutors say the raid torched homes ⁠and caused heavy casualties in ​Yelwata in Benue's Guma district.

Plagued by ​Islamist attacks and mass kidnappings, Nigeria is under pressure to restore security since U.S. President Donald ‍Trump accused it ⁠last year of failing to protect Christians. U.S. forces struck what they described as terrorist targets on ⁠December 25. The Nigerian authorities say they are cooperating with Washington to ‌improve security.

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters

Video - Nigerians react to surprise US strikes on militants

Many Nigerians have welcomed the US-Nigeria strikes on militants as a boost to long-running counterterrorism efforts, even as concerns persist over possible collateral damage.

CGTN Africa

Nigeria provided US with intelligence for strikes on Islamist militants, says foreign minister

Nigeria provided the US with intelligence on jihadists before the strikes that took place in the country on Christmas Day, its foreign ministry said on Friday.

On Thursday, the US president, Donald Trump, said the US military had carried out strikes against Islamic State militants in north-west Nigeria, after spending weeks decrying the group for targeting Christians.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president said: “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!

“I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing.”

Now, Nigerian foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, has told broadcaster ChannelsTV that he was on the phone with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and that Nigeria “provided” the intelligence.

“We spoke twice. We spoke for 19 minutes before the strike and then we spoke again for another five minutes before it went on,” Tuggar said.

He added that they spoke “extensively” and that President Bola Tinubu gave “the go-ahead” to launch the strikes.

Tuggar did not rule out further strikes, describing them as an “ongoing process” that would also involve other countries.

In an interview with the BBC, Tuggar insisted the strikes had “nothing to do with a particular religion”. He said the operation did not have “anything to do with Christmas, it could be any other day - it is to do with attacking terrorists who have been killing Nigerians”.

Trump has previously said he would launch a “guns-a-blazing” US military intervention in Nigeria, claiming that the country’s government has been inadequate in its efforts to prevent attacks on Christians by Islamist groups.

The Guardian

Suicide bomber kills five soldiers in northeast Nigeria

A suicide bomber struck a military position in northeastern Nigeria near the border with Cameroon, killing at least five soldiers, security and local defence sources said.

The attacker targeted a military position in Firgi near Pulka, a remote town in Borno state, on Sunday, sources told AFP on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

“I counted five bodies lying in blood at the back of my house,” said Umar Sa’idu, a member of a community government-sponsored militia group, who helped transport the victims to hospital.

“After some hours, medical personnel at UMTH (University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital) confirmed that all five victims we gave escort to had died,” he told AFP by phone.

Suicide bombings, once one of the defining tactics of Boko Haram during the height of the insurgency more than a decade ago, have become less frequent in recent years as the military has made inroads against the group.

Lieutenant Colonel Sani Uba, the military’s spokesman in the northeast, confirmed the attack but not the deaths.

“Our gallant soldiers shot the attacker when he attempted to carry out the bombing in their own position,” Uba told AFP.

“Unfortunately, our gallant soldiers sustained varying degrees of injury and are currently receiving medical care.”

Sa’idu said the bomber was a suspected Boko Haram member thought to have come from nearby Mandara Mountains.

According to Bukar Aji, a local hunter, the assailant approached the soldiers and detonated an explosive device strapped to his body.

Pulka lies close to the Mandara Mountains, a rugged and sparsely governed border region that stretches between Nigeria and Cameroon and has long served as a refuge for jihadist militants linked to Boko Haram and its splinter factions.

AFP

Video - Nigeria targets Boko Haram, 17 militants killed and dozens arrested in raids

Nigerian forces killed 17 militants and arrested 85 in anti-terror raids across Borno and Adamawa states. The operations also rescued 10 abductees and targeted Boko Haram informants, suppliers, and collaborators. The ongoing insurgency has killed over 40,000 and displaced 2 million people since the crisis began.

CGTN Africa

A court in Nigeria sentences a top militant leader to 15 years on terror charges

A court in Nigeria on Thursday sentenced a top militant leader of an al-Qaida-linked group on the country's most-wanted list to 15 years in prison for illegal mining and using the proceeds to fund terror attacks.

Mahmud Muhammad Usman, who headed the Ansaru group, had pleaded guilty to the charge of engaging in illegal mining to procure arms for his militant group. It was the first conviction on a total of 32 charges brought against him by the Nigerian government.

Usman will remain in the custody of the Nigerian secret police while his trial continues. The other charges mostly include other counts of terrorism and the handling of illegal arms.

Usman was arrested last month along with fellow militant leader Mahmud al-Nigeri in an operation involving several Nigerian law enforcement agencies.

Usman's group is accused of carrying out the 2022 attack on a prison in Abuja, Nigeria's capital, that saw nearly 900 inmates escape, including dozens of Ansaru members. The group is also said to have been behind the attack on Niger's uranium facility in 2013.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, faces multiple security threats with dozens of armed groups taking advantage of the limited security presence in the rural communities to carry out attacks on villages and along major roads.

Despite military assaults on the groups, they have continued to expand their operations and carry out routine attacks. This year, Boko Haram has mounted a major resurgence.

The United States recently approved a potential $346 million weapons sale to the country that authorities have said will boost the fight against insecurity.

By Dyepkazah Shibayan, AP

At least 60 people dead in Boko Haram attack in northern Nigeria

More than 60 people were killed in overnight attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram in the northern Nigerian state of Borno, local officials said. At least five of the people killed were soldiers.

The militants struck the village of Darul Jamal, the location of a military base along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. The Nigerian Air Force said it killed 30 militants after it received reports of attacks on the village.

"In a series of three precise and successive strikes, the fleeing terrorists were decisively engaged, resulting in the neutralization of over 30 insurgents," Nigerian Air Force spokesperson Ehimen Ejodame said, according to BBC News.

Ejodame said the insurgents were fleeing north from the town toward nearby bushes.

Residents recently returned to the rebuilding village after years of being displaced by fighting between Boko Haram and rival groups, including the West African branch of the Islamic State group, authorities said.

"This community was settled a few months ago and they went about their normal activities, but unfortunately, they experienced a Boko Haram attack last night," Gov. Babagana Zulum told local media. "Our visit is to commiserate with them and build their resilience."

Zulum called for the immediate deployment of newly trained specialty guards to help the military defend vulnerable communities.

A decade ago, Boko Haram controlled large areas of Borno state before being pushed back.

UPI

Video - Nigerian terror victims rebuild lives amid ongoing conflict

Some victims of Nigeria’s long-running terror conflict are finding ways to rebuild by taking on any work they can. Grace Godwin, for example, runs a salon after losing relatives to violence.

CGTN Africa

Militant attack on 2 villages in northeast Nigeria kills at least 57, witnesses say

A suspected militant attack on two villages in Nigeria left at least 57 people dead and at least 70 missing on Thursday, witnesses said Sunday, in one of the deadliest incidents in the country’s conflict-ridden northeast this year.

Abdulrahman Ibrahim survived Thursday’s attack on two villages in Baga in Borno State and participated in the burial of the dead. He told The Associated Press that the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) faction of the militant group Boko Haram gathered more than 100 residents of the neighboring villages of Mallam Karamti and Kwatandashi and marched them into the bush. Later on Saturday, 57 bodies were recovered there.

A spokesperson for the Borno government said he could not confirm the casualty counts. The Nigerian military did not respond to a request for comment.

According to Ibrahim, who is from Mallam Karamti, and another survivor from Kwatandashi who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals, the villagers were accused of acting as informants for the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Although ISWAP has gained notoriety for targeting military personnel and assets, the JAS faction has increasingly resorted to attacking civilians and perceived collaborators and thrives on robberies and abductions for ransom.

“Without the capacity to attack the military like ISWAP, JAS is focused on terrorizing civilians,” said Malik Samuel, an expert on northern Nigeria’s conflicts with nonprofit Good Governance Africa.

The witnesses said burial of the victims was delayed because the military was unavailable to provide support in conducting searches for bodies. Most of the dead victims were found with their throats slit, but others had been shot, the locals said.

“There are probably more bodies because we had to stop further searches with soldiers out of fear of an ambush,” Ibrahim said. More than 70 are still missing, he said.

The mass killing came during a week of intensifying violence in Borno. On Monday, ISWAP militants overran the 50 Task Force Battalion of the Nigerian Army stationed in Marte, seizing arms and ammunition after a deadly assault that killed several soldiers, according to videos shared on social media by soldiers who survived the attack.

Following the attack on Marte, displaced people camped there fled to nearby Dikwa, a humanitarian hub where aid groups are pulling out due to international funding cuts.

In a separate incident on Saturday afternoon, a roadside bomb detonated along the Maiduguri-Damboa road, the second such attack in a week. Three people died at the scene, and a fourth succumbed to injuries Sunday morning at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). More than 10 others were still being treated for injuries at the hospital, a local resident, Lawan Bukar Maigana, who has assisted the community in emergencies, said.

Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency has created a humanitarian disaster in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad, with more than 35,000 people killed and 2.6 million others displaced over the last 15 years. Borno in Nigeria, its birthplace, is the worst-affected.

They want to install an Islamic state across the four countries, with Nigeria as their main target. The country is West Africa’s oil giant with more than 200 million people, divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north.

The Nigerian government has claimed progress against the insurgency, but the militants continue to attack civilians and military and have expanded into other regions, including central Nigeria where the capital Abuja is located, according to experts and public records on counterterrorism.

By Taiwo Adebayo, AP

Roadside bomb blast kills 26 in Nigeria’s restive northeast

At least 26 people have been killed as a truck hit an improvised explosive device in Nigeria’s restive northeast.

The blast on Monday killed men, women and children in Borno State, near the border with Cameroon, according to the military and residents. The region has been plagued for decades by armed groups including the ISIL affiliate in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram, with violence flaring up in recent days.

“Twenty-six people died in the blast, comprising of 16 men, four women and six children,” a military officer speaking on condition of anonymity told the AFP news agency, adding that three further passengers were severely injured.

Borno State police offered no immediate comment.

The International NGO Safety Organisation, which provides security to foreign nongovernmental organisations in northeast Nigeria, said in an internal memo seen by the Reuters news agency that vehicles moving between the towns of Rann and Gamboru Ngala hit an IED.

“I took part in the funeral of the 26 people killed in the explosion; most of them were burned beyond recognition,” Akram Saad, a resident of the nearby town Rann, told AFP.

A video showed rows of bodies in white plastic bags laid on the floor of the morgue at Rann’s general hospital.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. But Abba Amma Muhammad, whose mother was killed, blamed the incident on Boko Haram.

Violence flares

Boko Haram’s uprising has plagued northeast Nigeria for the past 15 years, killing more than 40,000 people. The government has asserted that the groups are largely defeated, despite the persisting attacks.

ISWAP is also active in northern Borno and has launched sporadic ambushes on convoys and planted landmines along its highways.

The blast comes amid a flare-up of violence in northeast Nigeria in recent days, with the death toll rising to at least 50 people.

Boko Haram killed about 10 “vigilantes” from the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) in the state of Adamawa, sources reported earlier on Monday, according to AFP.

On Thursday, the group killed 14 farmers in Borno’s Gwoza district, a local official said.

Borno State governor Babagana Umara Zulum on Friday told Nigeria’s defence minister and military chiefs that Boko Haram and ISWAP were entrenching themselves in Lake Chad islands, Sambisa Forest and Mandara mountains on the border with Cameroon as a result of “military setbacks”.

Aljazeera