At least 30 people were killed in three separate attacks in northern Nigeria, where escalating violence has choked the region in recent months, according to the AFP.
Africa’s most populous nation is battling a 16-year insurgency, with the uptick in Islamist violence complicated by activities of other armed groups in the region.
Boko Haram insurgents killed 25 people, including three troops, in attacks on Madagali and Hong in the border region with Cameroon in northeastern Adamawa state on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
“Gunmen, who we believed to be Boko Haram on many motorcycles… attacked the market. They opened fire on people and killed 21,” a Madagali local government official told AFP about the Tuesday evening attack, on the condition of anonymity.
“We are still searching for more bodies as some might have died in the bush from gunshot wounds while trying to find safety.”
The attackers also looted a market and stole food items and motorcycles, the source said. The other four, including the troops, were killed in Hong.
In northwestern Kebbi state, a raid on a mosque in Dodin Kowa village left at least five worshippers dead late Wednesday, according to the government-owned News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
A security report seen by AFP said 10 worshippers were killed in the raid, with several wounded. The police spokesman in Kebbi, Bashir Usman, did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comments.
But he told NAN that the attacks came after Lakurawa fighters were killed in a “failed ambush” on a military convoy on Sunday.
Adamawa state governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri described the attacks in Madagali and Hong as “cowardly” and “senseless”. Kebbi state’s information commissioner said he was away from the state and not aware of any attack.
Since 2009, insurgency in Nigeria, led primarily by Boko Haram and its rival faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), has left more than 40,000 dead and two million displaced in the northeast of the country, according to the United Nations.
In the northwest region, the Lakurawa group has been blamed for many of the attacks on communities in parts of Kebbi and Sokoto states.
Its members stage raids from their forest base, rustling livestock and imposing “taxes” on locals.
Nigeria’s government said the Christmas Day air strikes by the US military in Sokoto had targeted members of the group and “bandit” gangs.
Some researchers have linked the group to ISWAP, which is active mainly in neighbouring Niger and Mali, though others remain doubtful.
Nigeria is also grappling with other armed groups that have compounded its insecurity challenges in the north of the country.
Military crackdowns have yielded few results.
The conflict has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, prompting the formation of a regional military coalition to fight these groups.
But the coalition has lost steam in recent years after the withdrawal of Niger due to a diplomatic spat with Nigeria following a 2023 military coup in Niger.
Earlier this month, the United States began deploying troops to Nigeria to provide technical and training support to the country’s soldiers in fighting the groups.
The U.S.-Africa Command said 200 troops were expected to join the deployment overall. Ref: AFP
