Suspected Boko Haram insurgents ambushed a group of farmers working on their farmlands near the remote border community of Ngoshe in Gwoza LGA. The attackers slit the victims' throats in what witnesses described as a "cold blood" execution. The five farmers were found in a pool of blood.
1 Sept 2025 · Ngoshe, Gwoza, Borno
Deaths
5
Injured
0
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
5
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Senator Ali Ndume condemned the attacks and called for stronger security measures, including deployment of more personnel, sophisticated weapons, attack helicopters or fighter jets, and improved intelligence sharing to protect vulnerable farming communities.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Insurgency, control of rural zones, intimidation of livelihoods
Trajectory
The Ngoshe attack is one node in a systematic, documented campaign of violence against farmers in Borno State. Between January and May 2025 alone, security sources recorded at least 90 farmers killed across the state. This represents a significant evolution in insurgent tactics: rather than merely disrupting farming as a byproduct of territorial control, attacks on farmers have become a deliberate strategic objective.
Cycle notes
While the Maitatsine uprisings of the 1980s did not explicitly target farmers as a class, the contemporary campaign echoes the broader pattern of state withdrawal from peripheral territories and the subsequent rise of non-state armed groups that impose their own order. However, this represents an intensification of the food blockade strategy first systematically employed by Boko Haram in the mid-2010s, which caused a famine in 2016–2017. By 2025, this tactic had become more lethal and widespread, now targeting farmers rather than just preventing access to farms. Unlike the earlier phase of the insurgency, which focused on territorial control and the establishment of caliphate governance, the current trajectory prioritizes the systematic destruction of the economic foundations of civilian life.
Pattern
Farmers targeting
Related — Ambush
A joint security team—comprising personnel from the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, Kaduna State Vigilance Service (KADVS), and local hunters—was ambushed by armed Bandits along the Kuzuntu axis of Anchau, Kubau LGA. The team had been assigned to escort local officials and staff from an agro‑industry company to measure the Kuzuntu Grazing Reserve, following a request from the Kubau LGA Chairman. The measurement exercise was completed successfully; however, on the return leg, the team was intercepted. A heavy firefight ensued. Police Constable Sunday Ishaya was fatally shot. Several military personnel sustained injuries. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, where PC Ishaya was confirmed dead. His remains were deposited at the General Hospital, Ikara. The injured personnel were reported to be responding to treatment.
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen dressed in Nigerian Army uniforms attacked worshippers leaving the central mosque in Dumba village, Kukawa LGA, Borno State, after early morning prayers. The attackers positioned themselves at a crossroads outside the mosque and opened fire indiscriminately. Defence spokesman Brigadier General Chris Olukolade confirmed 35 civilians were killed and 14 wounded, describing the massacre as a reprisal: “Boko Haram people attacked the village on the ground that they have refused to cooperate with them, that they refused their message.” The attack occurred on Monday but, due to the extreme remoteness of Dumba and the telecommunications blackout imposed during the State of Emergency, news of the massacre did not reach the public until Friday, 23 August.
Governor Babagana Zulum’s convoy was ambushed by gunmen while he was on a trip to Baga to distribute relief materials and evaluate the state of the town for the planned return of IDPs. As the convoy approached the town, which was supposedly "liberated" by the military, insurgents opened fire from concealed positions. The Governor was unharmed and safely evacuated to a military base in Mile 4, but the attack led to a major public confrontation between civil and military leadership.