For Immediate Release (Westlake Village, CA) — 2025 ended and 2026 began in Nigeria with a series of deadly attacks across northern and central Nigeria that instilled fear in rural Christian communities. Dozens were killed and hundreds displaced in the violence that also saw churches damaged and houses destroyed, according to reports from in-country sources for Christian Solidarity International (CSI).

Media attributed the attacks to different Islamist groups, including Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), active in northeastern Nigeria; Lakurawa, an armed group operating in the north west that is affiliated with ISIS; and Fulani ethnic militias that account for most of the violence in the Middle Belt. The U.S. strikes are said to have targeted Lakurawa positions.

In the worst reported incident, militiamen massacred at least 50 Christian and Muslim villagers in Kasuwan Daji in Niger State in northwestern Nigeria on January 3 and abducted women and children. “They set fire to the market and surrounding houses, slaughtering 42 men after tying their arms behind their backs,” the Catholic Diocese of Kontagora said in a statement.

The diocese said the market attack was the culmination of a killing spree in the area by “heavily armed bandits.” The militiamen entered a church compound in Sokonbora and destroyed a crucifix, religious paintings and other items.

Niger State was the scene of the abduction on November 21, 2025, of 315 children and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri, which is owned by the Diocese of Kontagora. In its statement, the diocese said the militants have been able to roam freely and have not been challenged by the security forces. “As a result, the Papiri school children who were recently released from captivity have been further traumatized, as they are forced to hide in the bush with their families whenever reports indicate that the bandits are nearby, both day and night.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, ISWAP fighters torched around 50 homes in Higa village in Adamawa State, in what a security expert said was “seemingly retaliation to the US airstrikes against IS-Sahel in Sokoto State.”

Boko Haram was also reported to have carried out attacks on several largely Christian farming communities in Adamawa on the same night, killing at least 14 people.

A late-night attack on New Year’s Eve claimed the lives of at least nine people in the predominantly Christian Chugwi community in Jos South Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State. The attack took place despite intelligence warnings of impending invasions by Fulani militias in the area.

Solomon Dalyop, National President of the Berom Youth Moulders Association (BYM) and a local partner of CSI, condemned the killings in comments made to TruthNigeria.

“Our people were murdered just minutes before the New Year. We warned of these attacks, but nothing was done,” he said.

On January 2, suspected Fulani gunmen attacked a community in Qua’an-Pan LGA, killing at least seven and injuring several others. Citing the executive chairman of Qua’an-Pan, Christopher Audu Manship, DailyPost said the assailants had specifically targeted Christians.

BYM reported two further attacks in Plateau on the night of January 6 that claimed a total of four lives. BYM described the attacks as “yet another grim reminder of the sustained and systematic terror being unleashed on indigenous communities of Plateau State.”

Since 2018, militias from the Muslim Fulani ethnic group have been systematically attacking Christian villages in Nigeria’s fertile Middle Belt region, occupying their land and displacing millions. CSI issued a genocide warning for Christians in Nigeria in 2020.