KEY POINTS

• Boko Haram overran a military base in Ngoshe, Borno State, killing soldiers and abducting over 300 residents, mostly women and children.
• Fresh attacks killed 20 in Benue’s Kwande LGA, while 10 were kidnapped in Kwara with a N10m ransom already demanded.
• Borno Governor Zulum visited displaced survivors and urged the army to clear insurgents from the Mandara Hills.

Around 1 a.m. on Wednesday, suspected Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province fighters descended from the Mandara Hills and stormed Ngoshe, a resettled community in Gwoza Local Government Area of Borno State, first overwhelming a military base before unleashing hours of violence on residents still asleep in their homes.

By the time the air component of Operation Hadin Kai finally pushed the insurgents back into the surrounding forest, at least nine soldiers were dead, the town’s chief imam had been killed along with several community elders, and local officials say more than 300 residents, mostly women and children, had been dragged into captivity.

Hundreds Missing, Death Toll Still Rising

Shuaibu Dabawa, the district secretary of Ngoshe, put the figure at over 300. Sen. Ali Ndume, who represents Borno South, told journalists that more than 100 people remained missing or unaccounted for as of Thursday.

Police spokesperson ASP Nahum Daso confirmed the attack but said authorities had not yet completed the count of those taken.

“Some are still missing and probably some were abducted and taken towards the Mandara Mountains,” he said.

Thousands of survivors fled through the night, many making it to the neighboring town of Pulka, where they have been sleeping on roads and in school buildings, too frightened to go back.

In a video obtained by local media Friday, five men claiming responsibility for the raid said they had beheaded men and women during the assault and vowed to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr at Ngoshe’s central mosque.

No group has formally claimed the attack through official channels.

Military aircraft tracked the retreating insurgents along known escape routes and carried out precision airstrikes that reportedly killed more than 50 fighters. But the damage to the community had already been done.

Zulum Visits Pulka, Calls for Army Crackdown on Mandara Hills

Gov. Babagana Zulum traveled to Pulka on Friday to meet with the displaced residents himself, describing what had happened as tragic and pledging that his government would not stop until those abducted were rescued and peace restored.

“We are here today to commiserate with the people of Ngoshe, who have lost their loved ones,” Zulum told the crowd of displaced residents. “We shall not relent in our commitment to restoring lasting peace and stability in the state.”

The governor said ongoing military operations inside Sambisa Game Reserve had likely pushed insurgents out of their strongholds, driving them toward civilian communities.

He called on the Nigerian Army and the federal government to escalate operations specifically targeting the Mandara Hills, calling the area “a major security concern.”

He also inspected burned houses in Konduga town, which was hit in a separate Boko Haram attack on Thursday.

Ngoshe had only recently been resettled after years of displacement from earlier insurgent activity. The community’s return was held up as a symbol of progress in the northeast. That symbol lies in ashes now.

20 Killed in Benue as Gunmen Attack Two Communities

The violence was not contained to Borno.

Less than 48 hours after the Ngoshe attack, gunmen killed at least 20 people in a bloody assault on Tyungu Jam and Mbaav communities in the Yaav and Mbadura council wards of Kwande Local Government Area in Benue State.

A source from the area said the attackers arrived Thursday morning and kept killing well into the night. Women and children were among the dead.

“This is another very sad day for the people of Kwande,” the source said. “The attackers stormed the communities Thursday morning and killed innocent women and children for no reason whatsoever.

Our women and children are being killed in their homes and we feel as if there is no government in place to protect our defenseless people.”

The source added that the search for survivors was still ongoing and warned the death toll could climb as more bodies were recovered from surrounding bush.

Alia, Aondoakaa Condemn Killings, Urge Tinubu to Act

Gov. Hyacinth Alia condemned the killings in a statement issued through his technical adviser on media, Solomon Iorpev, calling the attacks “barbaric, senseless and unacceptable” and extending condolences to families of the victims.

Former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Chief Michael Aondoakaa, SAN, went further, calling on President Bola Tinubu to urgently deploy more security personnel to Benue.

“The trauma and suffering being inflicted on our people are simply unacceptable,” Aondoakaa said in a statement by his special assistant James Ian.

He described the persistent attacks on rural communities as a deepening of insecurity in the state and urged Alia to provide decisive leadership and reassurance to vulnerable communities.

Kidnappers Demand N10m Ransom After Kwara Abductions

In Kwara State, 10 people were abducted Wednesday morning when armed men attacked Ahun and Oro-Ago communities in Ifelodun Local Government Area.

Among those taken was Clement Emmanuel, a sawmill operator who was seized alongside his apprentice, Solomon, while the two were cutting trees in a farm in Ahun village.

By Friday, the kidnappers had called his family demanding a ransom of 10 million naira.

His wife, speaking by phone with journalists in Ilorin, broke down as she recounted the call. “Please, help plead with them to release my husband. Where will I get the 10 million naira they asked for?” she said.

A Nation Waiting for Answers

The attacks across three states in a single week lay bare the scale of insecurity tightening its grip on Nigeria’s communities, from the forests of the northeast to the farmlands of the Middle Belt and the Kwara hinterland.

Families are burying their dead, searching for the missing, and in some cases, scraping together ransoms they cannot afford, all while waiting for a government response that feels, to many of them, dangerously slow in coming.