BBC
Attacks linked to Islamic State group fighters have been reported in north-east Nigeria in recent years
Gunmen have killed at least 29 people in an attack on a village in Nigeria’s north-eastern Adamawa state, local officials say.
The Islamic State group (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, without specifying its motive.
Authorities and local residents say the militants raided a football pitch where people had been gathering and opened fire at random, before burning houses, places of worship and motorcycles.
State governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri shared photos of himself arriving at the scene, describing the attack as an “affront to our humanity”.
The governor’s media office said the attack lasted several hours in Guyaku, a village in the Gombi local government area.
Surveying the damage in the area, the governor’s spokesperson wrote on Facebook that the “atmosphere in the community remains tense, with grief and fear evident”.
Many families “have abandoned their homes over concerns of further attacks”, the spokesperson added.
Fintiri posted on X: “We are intensifying security operations immediately to restore peace and ensure every resident feels safe in their home again.”
The restive region bordering Cameroon has seen repeated attacks by local criminal gangs and affiliates of IS in recent years.
Earlier this month, almost 400 people were sentenced during mass trials for their links with militant Islamist groups Boko Haram and its rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).
In 2009, Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria’s north-east leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of people and displacement of more than two million in the years since, according to aid groups.
The jihadist conflict has spread to neighbouring Niger, Chad, and Cameroon.
The Nigerian government is under intense pressure to curb rising insecurity in Africa’s most-populous nation, which has also come under international scrutiny ahead of the country’s general elections in January.
Late last year, the US launched “powerful and deadly” strikes against militants linked to IS in north-western Nigeria.
