{"id":758138,"date":"2026-04-28T04:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/758138\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T04:18:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T04:18:24","slug":"gunmen-kill-at-least-29-at-football-pitch-in-north-east-nigeria-governor-says-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/758138\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunmen kill at least 29 at football pitch in north-east Nigeria, governor says | Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gunmen have killed at least 29 people in north-east Nigeria<\/a>, a state governor said on Monday, with local people saying the attackers targeted young people gathered at a football pitch, the latest bout of deadly unrest in Africa\u2019s most populous nation.<\/p>\n

The attack on Sunday occurred in Adamawa state, which borders Cameroon, and is a hotspot for violence by jihadists and criminal gangs. Communal violence over conflict for land is also rife in the state.<\/p>\n

The latest attack comes as Nigeria\u2019s security crisis is increasingly under scrutiny both abroad and at home as general elections are less than a year away.<\/p>\n

Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the governor of Adamawa state, visited the scene of Sunday\u2019s attack and \u201cconfirmed that no fewer than 29 people were killed in a deadly attack on Guyaku community in Gombi local government area\u201d, his spokesperson said in a post on social media.<\/p>\n

Local people also gave a similar toll.<\/p>\n

Philip Agabus, a local resident, told Agence France-Presse: \u201cOur people converged at a football pitch in Guyaku community … [and] were attacked by insurgents who entered with guns and began shooting randomly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dead were \u201cyouths, including some ladies that were watching football\u201d, another resident, Joshua Usman, told AFP. \u201cThey also burned places of worship, houses and motorcycles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state governor\u2019s office wrote: \u201cThe attackers operated for several hours, killing dozens of residents, burning places of worship, and destroying property including motorcycles.\u201d It cited a local community leader, Aggrey Ali.<\/p>\n

Local television showed footage of a burnt church and several charred motorcycles.<\/p>\n

The governor blamed the Boko Haram<\/a> militants who are active in the north-east of Nigeria.<\/p>\n

But a rival group, the Islamic State\u2019s West Africa<\/a> Province (ISWAP), claimed responsibility for the attack saying it \u201ckilled at least 25 \u2026 Christians\u201d and \u201ctorched a church and nearly 100 motorcycles\u201d, in a statement reported by the SITE monitoring group.<\/p>\n

Fintiri condemned the attack, saying \u201cit will not go unpunished\u201d while he vowed \u201cintensifying security operations immediately to restore peace\u201d.<\/p>\n

Since 2009, the jihadist insurgency in Nigeria, led primarily by Boko Haram<\/a> and the ISWAP, has left tens of thousands of people dead and millions displaced in the north-east of the country, according to the United Nations.<\/p>\n

The jihadist conflict has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.<\/p>\n

Nigeria is now looking to the US for technical and training support for its troops fighting the jihadists after a resurgence of violence strained relationships between the two countries.<\/p>\n

A separate attack occurred on Sunday in another district more than 100km away, which a local community blamed on farmland disputes in several villages in the Lamurde area.<\/p>\n

Bulus Daniel, a local government council chair for the Lamurde area, told AFP: \u201cLives were lost; properties were also lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Nigerian security forces rescued 15 pupils after gunmen abducted 23 children and the wife of a school proprietor during an attack at the weekend on an unregistered orphanage and school in central Nigeria\u2019s Kogi state, the state government said.<\/p>\n

Kingsley Femi Fanwo, the Kogi state commissioner for information, confirmed that 15 pupils have been rescued and that efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims.<\/p>\n

School kidnapping is thriving in most parts of Nigeria because security is weak and perpetrators demand ransom before they release their victims.<\/p>\n

Mass kidnappings, despite repeated government pledges to prevent such incidents, continue to disrupt education, commerce and travel, leaving frustrated residents questioning the authorities\u2019 effectiveness in addressing the threat.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gunmen have killed at least 29 people in north-east Nigeria, a state governor said on Monday, with local…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":758139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[50,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-758138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116480410011635073","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}