Gunmen killed at least 29 people in an attack on a village in northeastern Nigeria’s Adamawa state, local officials have confirmed.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the assault, though it did not specify a motive for the attack.
Authorities and residents report that militants stormed a football pitch where people had gathered, opening fire indiscriminately before setting houses, places of worship, and motorcycles ablaze.
Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri visited the scene, describing the attack as “an affront to our humanity.”
The governor’s media office said the assault on Guyaku village in the Gombi local government area lasted several hours.
“The atmosphere in the community remains tense, with grief and fear evident,” the governor’s spokesperson wrote on Facebook. Many families “have abandoned their homes over concerns of further attacks,” the spokesperson added.
Governor Fintiri posted on X: “We are intensifying security operations immediately to restore peace and ensure every resident feels safe in their home again.”
The restive region, which borders Cameroon, has seen repeated attacks by local criminal gangs and IS affiliates in recent years.
Earlier this month, nearly 400 people were sentenced during mass trials for links to militant Islamist groups Boko Haram and its rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province.
Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast in 2009, leading to tens of thousands of deaths and displacing more than two million people since then, according to aid groups. The jihadist conflict has since spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
The Nigerian government faces intense pressure to curb rising insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, with the country’s general elections scheduled for January.
