Amid escalating tensions in northeastern Nigeria, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has launched deadly attacks, resulting in the loss of at least 12 lives and the burning of a church in a Christian community in Adamawa State. The international Christian aid organization Barnabas Aid highlighted this violent act as part of a series of attacks by the Islamic State and other factions across the country.
ISWAP claimed the assault in Kubako village via social media, describing those killed as “12 Christian combatants,” according to Barnabas Aid. The group has recently used the term “combatants” in propaganda to refer to Christians and Jews who resist conversion to Islam.
In a related incident on the same day, suspected Islamist militants in northern Adamawa State killed a church minister, Emmanuel Ezeokwe, in Zinai village. The violence intensified last Sunday when militants attacked Guyaku in the Gombi Local Government Area, resulting in at least 29 deaths, as reported by The Associated Press. ISWAP also took responsibility for this attack on the Telegram messaging platform.
Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa State condemned the Guyaku attack during his visit to the community. The same night, gunmen attacked an orphanage in north-central Nigeria’s Kogi State, kidnapping 23 pupils. Although 15 were rescued, the remaining victims’ fate remains unknown. The Dahallukitab Group of Schools, operating without authorization, was targeted, but no group has claimed responsibility for the abductions.
The complexity of identifying the perpetrators stems from the presence of two major Islamic State-linked groups in the region: ISWAP, active in the northeast, and Lakurawa, operating in the north-central states. Both groups have contributed to the region’s instability.
Nigeria’s northeast has long been a battleground for ISWAP and Boko Haram, with the latter waging a prolonged insurgency. The Global Terrorism Index places Nigeria fourth, noting a 46% increase in terrorism-related deaths in 2025.
In response to these threats, the United States deployed 200 troops to Nigeria earlier this year to assist in training local forces against Islamist militants. This deployment followed a U.S. airstrike targeting Islamic State camps, requested by the Nigerian government to bolster its defenses.
U.S. Africa Command highlighted the ongoing threat posed by West African militant groups. The deployment coincided with statements from President Donald Trump, who criticized the Nigerian government for not preventing mass killings of Christians, hinting at possible aid cuts or increased military intervention if the violence persisted. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu refuted these allegations, asserting that both Christians and Muslims suffer from the insurgency.
Nigerian church leaders have long described the systematic killings in the north and Middle Belt as an anti-Christian genocide, with tens of thousands of Christians reportedly killed over the past 15 years.
This article was originally written by www.christiantoday.com
