Suspected Boko Haram militants have killed nine local security volunteers and a farmer in an ambush in northeastern Nigeria, according to security volunteers and police authorities on Friday.
The attack targeted members of the state-backed Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a vigilante group composed of local recruits trained to support the military in combating jihadist insurgents in Borno State.
The volunteers were ambushed on Thursday after responding to the killing of a farmer near Warabe in Gwoza district, close to the Cameroon border.
“I personally counted seven bodies belonging to our CJTF members and one farmer,” a senior militia commander in Warabe told AFP. “Then this morning, when we searched the bush, we found two more corpses.”
A police officer in Gwoza confirmed the assault, saying the suspected jihadists killed 10 people in total.
The ambush occurred a week after fighters from Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a rival faction to Boko Haram, killed a brigadier general in the region—making him the highest-ranking military officer killed since 2021.
Another CJTF member, Musa Iliya, said Boko Haram militants had ambushed his colleagues and “killed seven,” adding that “eight others are missing.”
Warabe, located near the Mandara Mountains, has long been considered a stronghold for jihadist groups, including ISWAP militants operating along the Cameroon border.
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, on Thursday, urging the country to take stronger action to curb violence against Christians, the Pentagon said.
Hegseth called on Nigeria to “take both urgent and enduring action to stop violence against Christians,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said, noting that Washington hopes to partner with Abuja “to deter and degrade terrorists that threaten the United States.”
The meeting came after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that Christianity was “facing an existential threat” in Nigeria, cautioning that if the country fails to stem the killings, the United States would intervene and “it will be fast, vicious, and sweet.”
Nigeria, a nation of about 230 million people, is split almost evenly between a predominantly Christian south and a Muslim-majority north. It remains plagued by multiple forms of violence, including jihadist insurgencies that kill both Christians and Muslims.
The country also faces persistent clashes between mostly Muslim herders and largely Christian farmers over land and water resources. While these conflicts often appear religious, experts emphasize they are primarily driven by competition for shrinking land due to population growth and climate change.
