Islamic State militants kill 29 in northeast Nigeria village attack

Militants opened fire on a football pitch in Guyaku, turning an ordinary gathering place into a killing ground and leaving at least 29 people dead in northeast Nigeria’s Adamawa state.

The assault took place late on Sunday, April 27, in Guyaku village in Gombi Local Government Area, where residents had gathered at the pitch when attackers arrived with guns and began shooting at random. Local officials said the gunfire continued in sporadic bursts for several hours, spreading panic through the village and leaving residents to count their dead only after the attackers withdrew.

Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri visited the village on Monday, April 28, and confirmed that no fewer than 29 people were killed. He described the attack as tragic and unacceptable, as authorities tried to assess the scale of the damage in one of the latest blows to civilian life in Nigeria’s northeast.

Witnesses said the victims included young people and women watching football when the gunmen struck. Philip Agabus said the assailants entered with guns and began shooting randomly, a scene that underscored how militants are reaching far beyond security forces and into the everyday social spaces where communities gather.

The attackers also set several homes on fire, torched a church and burned nearly 100 motorcycles, deepening the destruction in a village already reeling from the deaths. The combination of mass killing and property destruction suggested an assault aimed not only at people but at the fabric of communal life itself.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility in a statement posted on Telegram, though it did not specify a motive for the attack. The claim added Guyaku to a continuing wave of insecurity in Africa’s most populous country, where Islamic State-linked fighters and other insurgent groups have carried out repeated attacks in recent years.

For Adamawa state and the wider northeast, the massacre raises again a hard question about civilian protection in areas where villages remain vulnerable to armed raids and prolonged shootings. The attack on a football pitch, a place meant for gathering and recreation, showed how militants continue to exploit gaps in local security and target the ordinary routines of community life.