The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) killed at least 29 people in an overnight attack on Guyaku village in Nigeria’s northeastern Adamawa State on April 27, targeting youths gathered at a local football pitch.
Adamawa State Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri confirmed the toll after visiting the scene Monday. His office said the attackers operated for several hours, shooting at civilians before burning homes, places of worship, and motorcycles. The governor initially attributed the attack to Boko Haram, a rival Islamist insurgent group also operating across the northeast.
ISWAP disputed that attribution in a statement posted to Telegram, saying its fighters killed at least 25 Christians, torched a church, and burned nearly 100 motorcycles. The SITE Intelligence Group reported the statement. These claims have not been independently verified.
“Our people converged at a football pitch in Guyaku community and were attacked by insurgents who entered with guns and began shooting randomly,” local resident Philip Agabus told Agence France-Presse. A second witness, Joshua Usman, said the dead were “youths, including some ladies that were watching football.”
On X, Fintiri called the attack “an affront to our humanity” and said his administration would intensify operations with support from “military and vigilante groups.”
My heart breaks for the people of Guyaku in Gombi LGA. Today, I stood on the ground where our brothers and sisters were cruelly taken from us. This act of cowardice is an affront to our humanity and will not go unpunished.
To the bereaved families: Adamawa mourns with you. To… pic.twitter.com/jX0c90LaCj
— Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri (@GovernorAUF) April 27, 2026
The violence came 10 weeks after roughly 100 U.S. military personnel arrived in Bauchi, a neighboring northeastern state, to train and advise Nigerian forces against ISWAP. U.S. forces had also struck IS-affiliated fighters in northwestern Nigeria in December 2025.
ISWAP recorded more than 300 incidents in northeast Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin in 2025, overrunning at least 16 Nigerian military bases in the first half of that year, according to Good Governance Africa.
The U.S. also pulled non-essential embassy staff from Abuja this month following warnings of planned coordinated attacks on the capital.
