Jihadis killed at least 60 people in northeastern including several soldiers, news agencies Reuters and AFP reported on Saturday, citing residents and official sources.
The attack took place on Friday night in the town of Darul Jama, in Borno state. Reuters and DW reporters identified the jihadist attackers as members of the notorious Boko Haram group.
Many of the victims had returned to the town only recently after years of displacement.
What do we know about the Borno attack?
Residents said the attack on Darul Jama began around 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) on Friday.
Dozens of armed fighters arrived on motorbikes and began shooting indiscriminately.
They also set homes ablaze.
“They went house to house, killing men and leaving women behind. Almost every household is affected,” the traditional head of Darul Jama, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.
He said 70 bodies had been recovered by Saturday morning, with more residents still missing.
Malam Bukar, who fled into the countryside with his wife and three children, said: “They came shouting, shooting everyone in sight.”
“When we returned at dawn, bodies were everywhere,” he told AFP.
How effective are the counterinsurgency operations?
to establish an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria since 2009.
The violence has so far claimed around 40,000 lives and displaced over two million people.
A splinter group called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formed in 2016,
According to a tally by Good Governance Africa, a nonprofit, the first six months of 2025 saw a resurgence in jihadist activity, with some 300 attacks killing about 500 civilians.
Nigeria’s military says it has stepped up to try to curb the activities of these outfits.
But the latest attack raises questions about the effectiveness of the security operations.
It also marks a setback for efforts to close down camps for the internally displaced people and return them to their villages.
Gunmen target Chinese workers
In a separate incident, gunmen killed eight security officials and kidnapped Chinese workers in Edo state in southern Nigeria.
It happened on Friday when a group of suspected armed kidnappers attacked a convoy of the paramilitary Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Chinese nationals working for local BUA Cement.
NSCDC spokesperson Afolabi Babawale told Reuters four Chinese workers who were kidnapped were rescued but one was missing.
Eight operatives from the agency were killed and four were seriously injured, he added.
Edited by: Rana Taha
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