Al-Qaeda-Linked Jihadists Claim First Attack Inside Nigeria
By TOSI ORE
AN al-Qaeda-affiliated terror group operating in the Sahel, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), has reportedly claimed responsibility for its first attack on Nigerian soil, marking a troubling expansion of the group’s operations into West Africa’s most populous country.
Security sources and jihadism analysts confirmed that the assault targeted a military position in Nuku, a village in Kwara State near Nigeria’s border with Benin Republic. The attack occurred on October 28 around 10:15 p.m., when heavily armed fighters believed to be members of JNIM ambushed Nigerian soldiers.
According to local reports, one soldier was killed and another kidnapped, while the attackers allegedly looted two motorcycles, weapons, ammunition, and cash before retreating through the Kainji National Park, a known infiltration route between Nigeria and Sahelian states.
A local resident spoke over the phone that “the attackers came from the direction of Kainji Park and overpowered the soldiers before escaping into the bush.”
The security research group Menastream also confirmed the development on X (formerly Twitter), stating that JNIM had claimed responsibility for the assault, which resulted in the seizure of an AK-47 rifle, six mobile phones, a motorcycle, assorted military gear, and Nigerian currency.
While the Nigerian military has not officially commented, messages sent to the Defence Headquarters spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Tukur Gusau, and Army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Appolonia Anele, remained unanswered as of press time.
Rising Cross-Border Threat
Analysts say the attack represents a significant escalation in the activities of JNIM—an al-Qaeda affiliate long active in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Benin—and raises concerns about the group’s expansion into northwestern Nigeria.
In June 2025, JNIM claimed responsibility for an attack in Basso, a Beninese town less than 15 kilometers from Nigeria’s Kainji National Park. Shortly afterward, militants released a video confirming their presence inside Nigerian territory.
Security experts have warned for years that JNIM and Ansaru, another al-Qaeda-linked faction with roots in Nigeria, have been collaborating and coexisting within the country’s vast forested border areas.
Philip Brant, a counterterrorism researcher specializing in the Sahel, noted that although JNIM’s official media arm, az-Zallaqah, has yet to release a formal communique, the video circulating on social media shows “a fighter explicitly claiming the operation on behalf of JNIM.”
Brant added that this development confirms fears that “JNIM’s operational footprint has now extended into Nigeria, using alliances with local Ansaru cells for logistics and safe passage.”
Who is JNIM?
Formed in March 2017, JNIM emerged from the merger of four jihadist factions — Ansar al-Din, al-Murabitun, the Macina Liberation Front, and the Sahara Emirate wing of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The group pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and has since become one of the most powerful militant networks in the Sahel.
JNIM routinely carries out ambushes, kidnappings, and bombings targeting security forces and civilians across Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, and has disrupted trade routes and fuel supplies in parts of the region.
Experts warn that the group’s expansion into Nigeria could deepen insecurity across West Africa, complicating counterterrorism coordination between regional governments already battling Islamic State–linked factions in the Lake Chad Basin.
Security analysts have urged the Nigerian government to intensify surveillance and joint operations with Benin and Niger to prevent further infiltration and consolidation of jihadist networks along shared borders.
