A fresh cycle of violence is unsettling communities across Northern Nigeria, with explosives, armed raids, and reprisal killings reported in several states over the past week.
In Borno State, police said they had recovered and neutralised an improvised explosive device planted near an internally displaced persons camp in Mallam Fatori, a town on the border with Niger. Officers described the device as “victim-operated,” designed to detonate on contact. It was the second discovery in as many days, following the removal of another explosive from farmland in Dikwa, further west.
The use of such devices, once more common at the height of Boko Haram’s insurgency, had waned in recent years. Security analysts say their reappearance is a sign that militant groups remain capable of striking vulnerable civilian areas.
Elsewhere, communities have been left reeling from gun and machete attacks. In Katsina State, gunmen stormed a mosque in Unguwar Mantau village during dawn prayers on Monday, killing at least 34 worshippers. Officials described it as a reprisal assault, though the exact trigger remains unclear.
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In Benue, suspected herders killed four people in Agatu Local Government, while in Plateau State, villagers reported that armed men raided seven settlements in Mangu, leaving at least 15 farmers dead and forcing many families to flee into surrounding forests. Survivors spoke of homes set ablaze and entire hamlets emptied overnight.
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, acknowledged the surge in incidents, linking them to wider tensions as the country moves towards the 2027 elections. He suggested that armed groups may be exploiting political uncertainty to destabilise communities.
In the affected areas, however, residents say their fears are immediate and personal: whether to tend their fields, whether their children can safely return to school, or whether prayers at dawn might again end in bloodshed. For many, the lull that once offered fragile hope has given way to the return of old anxieties.