By Ezinwanne Onwuka
On a single day, armed groups launched coordinated attacks on schools in Nigeria’s northeast and southwest regions. At least 50 people were kidnapped during the raids, including schoolchildren and teachers. In the days surrounding the assaults, a broader wave of violence—including a deadly military airstrike—left at least 109 civilians and 13 security personnel dead.
Northeast School Abduction
On Friday (May 15), Islamist insurgents rode into Mussa town in Askira/Uba County of Borno State on motorbikes and abducted 40 schoolchildren, some under the age of five.
Witnesses said the attackers arrived on motorcycles just 10 to 15 minutes after troops stationed nearby had departed on patrol. As the terrorists stormed the school, terrified children scattered in all directions, many fleeing into nearby bushes in a desperate attempt to escape.
The raid came just hours after a separate attack on nearby communities. On the night of Thursday (May 14), multiple Christian communities around Chibok were attacked. Eight people were killed, including a newborn baby.
School Raids in Southwest
Also, on Friday (May 15), attackers carried out a coordinated assault on three schools in Oriire County of Oyo State, in Nigeria’s southwest—a region not typically associated with mass school kidnappings.
According to HumAngle, the gunmen struck Baptist Nursery and Primary School in Yawota, Community High School, and L.A. Primary School in Esiele, all within the Ogbomoso axis.
As with the attack in Borno State, the attackers arrived on motorcycles and hit in the early hours, between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., as students and teachers were settling into their day.
The attackers abducted an unspecified number of pupils and seven teachers, including the principal of Community High School, Alamu Folawe. A teacher was killed during the operation, and another abducted teacher was later killed in captivity on Sunday.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the level of coordination suggests the involvement of an organized criminal or terrorist network. Residents described the area as previously peaceful, with no history of such large-scale abductions.
A day later, on Saturday (May 16), Nigeria’s police chief Olatunji Rilwan visited the area. He described the attack as “cruel and unacceptable” and promised swift action.
Airstrike and Escalating Violence in the Northwest
On Sunday (May 10), a Nigerian military airstrike targeting terrorist-bandits struck the crowded Tumfa market in Zurmi County, Zamfara State. According to Amnesty International, at least 100 civilians were killed, including women and children.
The strike marked the second time in a month that a military operation had resulted in mass civilian casualties at a crowded market in northern Nigeria.
In a statement, Amnesty International’s Nigeria office said the military aircraft bombed the market when it was “full of people and without warning.” It added, “The scene was chaotic. There were screams, blood and bodies all over the ground.”
“Dozens of people are currently receiving treatment following injuries because of a military air strike… One of the villages buried 80 people at once…,” it said.
Elsewhere in the region, violence continued at the community level.
On Tuesday (May 12), a breakdown in a peace agreement between local communities and “repentant” bandits in Jibia County, Katsina State, spiraled into violence.
A confrontation around 12:00 p.m. left three bandit-terrorists dead, but the situation quickly escalated. In a reprisal attack, armed fighters killed 11 members of a local vigilante group.
A day later, on Wednesday (May 13), suspected Lakurawa militants attacked a security checkpoint in Tugar village, Bagudo County, Kebbi State. The Lakurawa insurgency, is linked to Islamic State in Sahael terrorists.
Disguised as animal transporters, the attackers arrived in a truck before opening fire. They killed two Nigeria Customs Service officers, injuring two others. One officer was shot; another was burned alive after the attackers set fire to sleeping quarters.
Security Setbacks and Counterterrorism Gains in Northeast
Police authorities confirmed on Saturday (May 16) that 17 police officers were killed during an attack on the Nigerian Army Special Forces School in Buni Yadi, Yobe State, northeast Nigeria.
The assault was on Friday (May 8). Military authorities initially claimed to have repelled the attack, reporting that more than 50 militants were killed and weapons recovered from fleeing insurgents.
However, police spokesman Anthony Okon Placid, reported the death of 17 police officers killed during the assault.
“The officers, who were undergoing specialised operational training at the institution, lost their lives when the militants launched a coordinated attack on the facility from multiple directions,” Placid said in a statement.
He said several soldiers were also killed, though he did not give a figure for military casualties.
Meanwhile, the Yobe State government has announced the recruitment 1,886 armed forest guards to support ongoing military operations against insurgents.
In a different area of the northeast, the Lake Chad Basin, the second in command of ISIS globally, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, was killed in an operation conducted by U.S. and Nigerian forces early Saturday (16 May).
U.S. President Donald Trump and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu confirmed the development in separate statements.
Ezinwanne Onwuka is a conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
