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Five soldiers and 58 civilians have been killed in a fresh attack on Daral-Jamal, a community along the Bama-Banki road in the Sambisa Forest.
Suspected Boko Haram terrorists struck the community on Friday night, burning down over 20 houses, vehicles, foodstuffs and other valuables belonging to the resettled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The community hosts a military base on the Nigeria-Cameroon border in a zone ravaged by jihadist attacks.
Borno State Governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, on Saturday, visited the community to condole with families of the 63 people killed by Boko Haram insurgents.
Governor Zulun addressing the members of the Daral-Jamal community after the Friday attack that left 58 dead
Visibly moved by the incident, Zulum met with community leaders and consoled the bereaved families. He expressed grief and condemned the brutal attack in the strongest terms.
Speaking to journalists, the governor said, “We are here to commiserate with the people of Darajamal over what happened last night that has claimed the lives of many people. It is very sad. This community was settled a few months ago, and they go about their normal activities, but unfortunately, they experienced a Boko Haram attack last night. Our visit is to commiserate with them and build their resilience.”
“At this moment, we have confirmed that 63 people lost their lives, both civilians and military, although the civilian casualties are more. Close to about 60 civilians and five soldiers lost their lives.”
Noting the challenges faced in the fight against insecurity, Zulum also called for the immediate deployment of the newly trained Forest Guards to complement the military in safeguarding vulnerable communities.
“We have to take note that the numerical strength of the military is not enough to cover everywhere, so far so good, two sets of Forest Guards have been trained, therefore one of the solutions that we need to implement immediately is to deploy the trained Forest Guards to most of the locations that are vulnerable, they will protect the forest and communities,” he stated.
Also, the Senator representing Borno Central, Kaka Shehu Lawan, whose constituency, Darajamal falls under, has condemned the attack, describing it as a crime against humanity.
Governor Zulum with military personnel during a visit to the Daral-Jamal community after suspected terrorists killed 5 soldiers
He expressed his commitment to supporting Governor Babagana Umara Zulum through legislative backing to restore peace in Borno State.
The latest attack raises questions about the push in recent years to close down camps for internally displaced persons and return their inhabitants to the countryside.
While jihadist violence has waned since the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency, from 2013-2015, militants, including rival Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) continue to launch attacks across rural areas in the northeast.
Residents said the attack began around 8:30 pm (1930 GMT), when dozens of fighters arrived on motorbikes, firing assault rifles and torching homes.
“They came shouting, shooting everyone in sight,” Malam Bukar, who fled into the countryside with his wife and three children, told AFP. “When we returned at dawn, bodies were everywhere.”
Air Force says it killed ‘terrorists’
Earlier, civilian militia commander Babagana Ibrahim said at least 55 people were killed, while an NGO worker, who asked not to be named, gave AFP a toll of 64.
Neither the army nor the air force responded to an AFP request for comment.
However, in a statement picked up by local media, the air force said it killed 30 “terrorists” who had engaged in a gun fight with ground troops in the town, also known as Dar-El-Jamal.
Many of the victims were families recently relocated from the Government Secondary School displacement camp in Bama, which authorities shut down earlier this year.
“The government told us we would be safe here,” said Hajja Fati, a mother of five who lost her brother in the attack. “Now we are burying our people again.”
The area is known to be under the control of a Boko Haram commander, Ali Ngulde. A security source told AFP he led the attack.
Resurgence Of Terror Groups
Boko Haram has been waging a bloody insurgency to establish an Islamic caliphate in northeast Nigeria since 2009, leaving around 40,000 people dead and forcing more than two million people to flee their homes.
Rival ISWAP split from the group in 2016.
According to a tally by Good Governance Africa (GGA), a non-profit group, the first six months of 2025 saw a resurgence in jihadist activity.
There were some 300 jihadist attacks that killed some 500 civilians, mostly by ISWAP, which has gained ground in recent years over the more fractured remnants of Boko Haram.
ISWAP overran at least 17 Nigerian military bases in that period, aided by an increased use of drones, night-time attacks and foreign fighters, according to GGA.
The resurgence in jihadist violence comes as neighbouring Niger has pulled back from a key multinational task force and the Nigerian military has become stretched by a separate banditry crisis in the northwest.
A biting economic situation under Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has reinforced the grievances that many armed groups feed off in rural areas, some analysts say.
