The assault occurred late Friday in the village of Darul Jama, near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon. Residents said the attackers arrived on motorbikes, opened fire indiscriminately, and set homes ablaze.
According to sources, the death toll could be higher, one local leader said that at least 70 bodies had been recovered by Saturday morning, with others still unaccounted for in the nearby bushland.
“They went house to house, killing men and leaving women behind,” the traditional head of the village said. “Almost every household is affected.” The attack also destroyed over 20 homes and 10 buses.
Security sources believe the assault was led by Boko Haram commander Ali Ngulde, whose faction is active in the area. Despite recent claims by Nigeria’s military that operations in Borno State had intensified, residents say the army failed to act on advance warnings.
“We informed the military three days before the attack, but no help came,” said Babagana Mala, a local who escaped with soldiers to Bama, a town 46 kilometers away. “The fighters overwhelmed the soldiers.”
Many of those killed had been recently relocated from a government-run displacement camp in Bama after it was shut down earlier this year. Survivors say the government had assured them of safety upon returning to their ancestral homes.
“The government told us we would be safe here,” said Hajja Fati, a mother of five who lost her brother in the massacre. “Now we are burying our people again.”
The attack has reignited criticism of Nigeria’s policy of closing displacement camps and returning civilians to volatile regions still vulnerable to militant activity. Boko Haram has been waging an insurgency in the northeast since 2009, resulting in more than 40,000 deaths and the displacement of over two million people.
A split in the group led to the emergence of ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) in 2016. According to the NGO Good Governance Africa, the first half of 2025 saw a surge in violence, with approximately 300 attacks mostly by ISWAP that killed around 500 civilians.