An al-Qaeda-linked militant group has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in central Nigeria, marking its first known assault inside the country, according to a video released Thursday.
The group, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), said it carried out the strike early Wednesday in Kwara State, killing a Nigerian soldier and seizing ammunition and cash. The statement was posted on the group’s Telegram channel, a common platform for its communications.
A Nigerian military source confirmed the attack to Reuters, saying that JNIM fighters ambushed a patrol unit, resulting in one soldier’s death. The army has not issued an official comment on the incident.
The assault marks a significant development for JNIM, whose operations have largely been confined to the Sahel region — particularly Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger — since its formation in 2017. The group, which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, says its goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate and expel governments it views as Western-influenced.
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Over the years, JNIM has expanded its reach into Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin, and Togo, conducting sporadic cross-border raids. Security experts warn that its emergence in Nigeria could complicate an already fragile security landscape, where the government is battling long-running insurgencies by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
In May 2024, JNIM launched one of its deadliest attacks in Burkina Faso, killing about 200 soldiers in the northern town of Djibo. Months earlier, it carried out an assault in Barsalogho, killing 200 civilians, according to local officials and humanitarian groups.
The group has also imposed economic blockades in parts of Mali, including a recent ban on fuel imports that forced schools and businesses to shut down.
Nigeria’s central and northern regions have long struggled with extremist violence, but JNIM’s claimed entry into the country signals a potential new front in the region’s jihadist expansion.
President Bola Tinubu last week appointed new service chiefs as part of a broad military leadership overhaul, saying the move aimed to strengthen national security and improve coordination against insurgent threats.
Without naming JNIM directly, Tinubu expressed concern over the rise of new armed factions in the north-central, northwest, and southern regions. “We must not allow these new threats to fester,” Tinubu said Thursday. “We must be decisive and proactive. Let us smash the new snakes right at the head.”
JNIM’s operations across the Sahel have intensified amid the withdrawal of Western and UN peacekeeping missions from Mali and neighboring states. The group’s possible expansion into Nigeria raises concerns of cross-border coordination among extremist factions operating from the Lake Chad Basin to the Gulf of Guinea.
Experts warn that without stronger regional cooperation, attacks like the one in Kwara State could become more frequent, deepening instability in West Africa’s most populous nation.