Terrorists from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) killed at least 12 people and burned a church building in an attack on a Christian village in northeastern Nigeria’s Adamawa State, according to the international Christian aid organization Barnabas Aid.
Separate attacks by Islamic State and other groups elsewhere in the country were also reported.
The group claimed responsibility on social media, saying "soldiers of the Caliphate" raided the village of Kubako and killed what it called “12 Christian combatants” on April 21, Barnabas Aid reported last week.
The organization said the Islamic State has used the word “combatants” in recent propaganda to describe Christians and Jews who refuse to convert to Islam or accept subjugation under Islamic rule.
On the same day in northern Adamawa State, suspected Islamists killed Emmanuel Ezeokwe, a church minister in the village of Zinai.
Separately, militants attacked the village of Guyaku in the Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State overnight, killing at least 29 people last Sunday, according to The Associated Press.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for that assault on the Telegram messaging platform.
Adamawa State Gov. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri visited Guyaku last week and condemned the attack.
The Guyaku attack occurred the same night gunmen raided an orphanage in north-central Nigeria and abducted 23 pupils, according to the AP. Fifteen were later rescued.
The facility, Dahallukitab Group of Schools, was in an isolated area of Lokoja, the capital of Kogi State, and had been operating without authorization, the state’s commissioner, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, said. No group claimed responsibility for that incident.
It was not immediately clear which of two major Islamic State-linked militant groups operating in Nigeria carried out the Guyaku attack.
ISWAP operates primarily in the northeast, including Adamawa State. A separate group, known locally as Lakurawa, is more active in the north-central states of Sokoto and Kebbi. Kubako lies just inside Adamawa State near the border with Borno State, where ISWAP has killed hundreds of civilians and Nigerian soldiers.
Northeastern Nigeria has been the primary theater for both ISWAP and Boko Haram, an Islamist armed group that has waged an insurgency in the region for more than two decades.
Nigeria ranks fourth on the Global Terrorism Index and recorded the largest increase in terrorism-related deaths of any country in 2025, with fatalities rising 46%.
The United States sent 200 troops to Nigeria earlier this year to train Nigerian forces to fight Islamist militants. The deployment came in phases, with personnel based at multiple locations to support training and coordination. Nigerian authorities said the troops would not engage in combat but would provide technical guidance, including air and infantry operations.
The decision followed a U.S. air campaign on Dec. 25, when a U.S. warship launched missiles at two suspected Islamic State camps in Nigeria. Nigerian military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Samaila Uba said at the time the government had requested expanded U.S. support.
A spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command said the threat from West African militant groups is serious and ongoing.
The deployment also followed comments from President Donald Trump, accusing the Nigerian government of allowing mass killings of Christians and warning of potential aid cuts or increased military pressure if the attacks continued. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu denied the accusations, saying both Christians and Muslims have been victims of the insurgency.
Church leaders in Nigeria have for years described the pattern of Islamist killings in the north and Middle Belt region as an anti-Christian genocide, with tens of thousands of Christians killed over the past 15 years.
