ISWAP Claims Attack Killing 29 at Football Pitch in Nigeria's Adamawa State

Gunmen killed at least 29 people in an hours-long attack on Sunday in Guyaku community, located in Sabon-Gari village of Gombi local government area in Adamawa state, Nigeria, according to state governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri and local residents. The attackers targeted young people gathered at a football pitch, opening fire at random on youths including some ladies watching football, residents Philip Agabus and Joshua Usman said.

Agabus stated that people converged at the pitch and were attacked by insurgents who entered with guns and began shooting randomly.

Usman added that the attackers burned places of worship, houses, and motorcycles. Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) claimed responsibility for the attack, stating it killed at least 25 Christians and torched a church and nearly 100 motorcycles, according to the SITE monitoring group. Fintiri visited the scene on Monday and confirmed that no fewer than 29 people were killed.

He stated that the attack is an affront to our humanity and will not go unpunished, vowing to intensify security operations immediately to restore peace. The state governor’s office reported that the attackers operated for several hours, burning places of worship and destroying property including motorcycles.

A separate attack occurred on Sunday in the Lamurde area, more than 100km away from Guyaku, blamed on farmland disputes in several villages, according to a local community.

Gunmen abducted 23 children and an adult at an unregistered orphanage in Lokoja, Kogi state, over the weekend. Security forces rescued 15 pupils, and efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims, Kogi state commissioner for information Kingsley Femi Fanwo said.

Adamawa state borders Cameroon and is a hotspot for violence by jihadists and criminal gangs, with communal violence over land also rife.

The jihadist insurgency in Nigeria, led primarily by Boko Haram and ISWAP, has left tens of thousands of people dead and millions displaced in the north-east since 2009, according to the United Nations and aid groups. The conflict has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Almost 400 people were sentenced during mass trials for links with Boko Haram and ISWAP earlier this month.

U.S. forces launched strikes against militants linked to IS in north-western Nigeria late last year and deployed 100 soldiers to northern Nigeria in February to train and advise local forces. Out of 1,923 attacks on civilians in Nigeria between January and November 2025, 50 targeted Christians because of their religion, according to ACLED.

Nigeria's general elections are scheduled for January.