A large group of IDPs from Babban Sansani, Zulum, and Arabic camps in Ngala town went out to fetch firewood in the surrounding bushland (approx. 15km from town, near Jillam and Wurga villages). In the Bula Kunte bush area, suspected ISWAP/Boko Haram militants surrounded them. The attackers separated the elderly (releasing them) and marched the rest – mostly women and girls, but also some boys – into the bush towards the border with Chad. Several victims escaped during the night after the captors fell asleep and trekked two days back to Ngala.

Perpetrators

Boko Haram /ISWAP

Response

UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mohamed Malick Fall condemned the abduction and called for unconditional release. Borno SEMA dispatched a search and rescue team. Police confirmed the incident but gave no figures. Military initially denied knowledge. House of Representatives passed a motion urging rescue.

Displacement

0

Socioeconomic drivers

Boko Haram and ISWAP, having lost territorial control, increasingly rely on abduction‑for‑ransom as a primary tactic to fund operations and terrorise civilian populations.

Trajectory

This incident represents a tactical evolution in the insurgency: mass abduction of civilians engaged in non‑commercial economic activities (foraging) as a distinct operational method. Unlike earlier Boko Haram attacks on villages or military convoys, this attack deliberately targeted vulnerable IDPs outside a garrison town.

Cycle notes

Mirrored earlier attacks including 14 April 2014 – Chibok schoolgirls abduction targeting female students, 19 February 2018 – Dapchi schoolgirls kidnapping involving mass abduction and selective release, 18 July 2019 – Damasak aid worker abduction for bargaining leverage, 24 August 2019 – Gajiram raid involving the abduction of women, and 22 December 2019 – Gasarwa highway attack with selective abduction of civilians, collectively reflecting a recurring pattern in which Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province systematically target vulnerable civilian groups—particularly women and girls in IDP and rural settings—for mass abduction, using them as instruments for ransom, forced labor, and strategic leverage while reinforcing control through fear and gendered violence in northeastern Nigeria.

Pattern

IDP Targeting

Source

• https://dailytrust.com/terrorists-abduct-scores-of-female-idps-in-borno/