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25-08-2025
ABUJA: The Nigerian military said more than 35 jihadis had been killed in an air strike on Saturday.
The attack was carried out close to the border with Cameroon, where Islamist militants had reportedly gathered.
Violent attacks have been resurging in the West African country following a period of relative calm.
What did the Nigerian military say about the attack on the jihadis?
“Acting on multiple intelligence from several sources, the Air Component executed precision strikes in successive passes, engaging the terrorists and neutralizing more than 35 fighters at four identified assembly areas,” the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) said in a statement.
Ground troops in the area later confirmed that the “situation around their location had been stabilized,” the statement added.
The reports could not be independently verified.
Northeastern Nigeria, along the borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger, has seen an uptick in attacks, including against military facilities, by the Islamist group Boko Haram and their rivals, the so-called “Islamic State West Africa Province” (ISWAP).
The NAF said Saturday’s attack was proof of the resolve to support ground forces in the region that are battling the insurgency, “while also disrupting terrorist logistics and movement corridors along the north east border regions.”
Last week, the military said it had killed 592 armed insurgents this year, marking an intensification from 2024.
Nigeria’s insurgency and banditry problems
The violence reached a peak around 2015 before declining. However, insurgent attacks have been on the rise again since the beginning of the year.
More than 40,000 people have been killed since the fighting started and 2 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
In addition to the jihadi attacks, rural Nigeria is also reeling from armed “bandit” gangs in the northwest of the country.
The government has been criticized for failing to bring the dual problems under control.
Last week, Nigeria sealed a deal with the US State Department to purchase $346 million (€295 million) in weapons, including bombs, rockets and munitions, subject to approval by Congress.
A US embassy spokesperson told media that officials in Washington and the embassy in Nigeria “regularly engage with the Nigerian government at the highest levels to protect civilians from harm and to ensure investigations into civilian casualty incidents and allegations of human rights violations are conducted transparently and to press for accountability.”
Last week, at least 50 people were killed in a widespread attack on Muslim communities in Nigeria’s Katsina state, officials confirmed Wednesday. Initially, the death toll of the Tuesday attacks was reported to be much lower.
The crime was said to be perpetrated by so-called “bandits,” members of criminal gangs who regularly target communities in the region.
Gunmen first targeted a mosque in the town of Unguwar Mantau, where some 30 worshipers were killed. Then, the attackers killed an additional 20 people and burned homes in nearby villages.
Katsina police spokesperson Abubakar Sadiq Aliyu said the attackers were intercepted by authorities. The measures successfully prevented a planned assault on two villages. (Int’l News Desk)
