Boko Haram militants have threatened to execute more than 400 women and children they are holding hostage within 72 hours. A faction from the terror group delivered the ultimatum in a video to Nigerian media after demanding a ransom of more than £2.7m from the government.
The video showed armed, masked men in paramilitary uniform warning that if their demands were not met, the captives would never be seen again. The West African nation is experiencing an epidemic of kidnappings, banditry and hostage-taking by criminal gangs, insurgents and militia.
A spokesman for the group issued a ‘first and final’ message in a video demanding the ransom.
Boko Haram came to global attention in 2014 when the group kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok Secondary School in Borno state.
The video showed a spokesman introducing the group by its full name, Jama’atu Ahlis-Sunna Lidwatu Wal-Jihad under Imam Abu, and saying its three-day ultimatum would be its “first and final message”.
In the video, the man said: “If our demands are not met, we will move these victims, including women and children, to different locations.
“All of them. You have made your decision, and we have made ours. We instruct you, in the name of Allah, not to exceed the given time.”
‘You may never see them again’
He went on: “And take a look at them before we do so, because you may never see them again. “If the government believes it can rescue them by force, you are free to try. We depend on Allah.”
A separate statement by a group called Borno South Youths Alliance said it was mediating with the group, and reported the militants were holding 416 women and children.
A photograph purporting to be of some of the hostages showed women wearing colourful hijabs sitting in a group surrounded by armed men.
Boko Haram came to prominence in 2014 when it captured nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok secondary school in Borno state – Nigerian Military/Reuters
The jihadist group is campaigning to overthrow the Nigerian state and impose strict sharia law. Its popular name, Boko Haram, roughly means “Western education is forbidden”.
The group has repeatedly attacked schools and has carried out suicide bombings in a campaign of violence in the north-east of the country dating back two decades.
Boko Haram is one of several severe security threats facing Africa’s most populous country.
More than 10,000 Nigerians have been killed by insurgency, terrorism and banditry in the past two years and security forces have appeared unable to rein in the violence.
As well as the Boko Haram uprising, there are violent land disputes between farmers and herders, and a separatist insurgency in the south-east.
Gangs, usually known as “bandits” in Nigeria, also frequently carry out mass kidnappings for ransom and valuables.
Donald Trump last year condemned Nigeria for failing to protect Christians from what he said was a genocide by jihadist militants.
He said he would send in troops “guns a-blazing” because Christianity there was facing an existential threat.
His comments were widely welcomed by church leaders, but the Nigerian government and security analysts accused him of oversimplifying the situation.
They said the violence was not religiously motivated, and both Christians and Muslims suffered.
On Christmas Day 2025, the U.S fired 16 Tomahawk missiles at what Mr Trump said were Islamic State “terrorist scum” in north-western Nigeria. ref: wire/agencies
