- Boko Haram militants ambush CJTF volunteers in Warabe, killing 10 people.
- More bodies recovered in the bush as search teams continue combing the area.
- The attack comes one week after ISWAP killed a brigadier general in the region.
- U.S. urges Nigeria to curb violence against Christians amid rising insecurity.
Suspected Boko Haram militants have launched another deadly assault in Borno State, killing nine members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and a farmer in Warabe, Gwoza district. The victims were ambushed on Thursday after they responded to reports of a farmer who had been killed on the outskirts of the community, close to the Cameroon border.
A senior CJTF commander in Warabe told AFP that he counted seven bodies at the scene late Thursday. When volunteers continued the search at dawn, two more corpses were found in the surrounding bush, bringing the death toll to 10. A police officer in Gwoza also confirmed the attack, blaming Boko Haram militants for the killings.
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Another CJTF member, Musa Iliya, stated that the insurgents “killed seven” of his colleagues, adding that eight others were still missing after the ambush. The area sits near the Mandara Mountains, a long-time hideout for jihadist factions, including ISWAP fighters who operate across the Nigerian–Cameroonian border.
The attack occurred just a week after fighters from ISWAP, a rival jihadist faction, killed a brigadier general during an ambush on an army convoy. He was the highest-ranking officer to be killed since 2021, highlighting how dangerous the northeast remains despite years of counter-insurgency operations.
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The renewed violence comes as the United States intensifies diplomatic pressure on Nigeria over rising attacks against Christian communities. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with National Security Advisor Nuhu Ribadu in Washington on Thursday, urging Nigeria to take “urgent and enduring action” to stop violence targeting Christians. His remarks followed comments by former U.S. President Donald Trump, who warned that Christianity faced an “existential threat” in Nigeria.
Nigeria, home to over 230 million people, remains split almost evenly between a Christian south and a Muslim-majority north. While extremist groups kill both Christians and Muslims indiscriminately, clashes between herders and farmers in the north-central region continue to fuel religious and ethnic tensions. Experts, however, maintain that the core of the crisis remains competition over shrinking land and water resources, further worsened by climate change and population pressure.
The latest killings in Warabe once again highlight the volatile security landscape in Borno, where CJTF volunteers, civilians recruited and trained to support military operations remain key targets for jihadist factions who view them as obstacles to their movements and intelligence routes.
