Active · Africa
Armed conflicts in Nigeria
Killed
Verified
at least23k–37kDocumented
Counted from to . The published count and what it counts
Latest development · , Barkin Ladi
Gunmen reportedly killed a soldier and three civilians in an attack on Bel village in Sho community, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State, at about 9 pm on Sunday, Daily Trust reported. Several other people were injured, and the Operation Enduring Peace spokesperson had not responded.
- Status
- Active
- Sustained hostilities in the current reporting period.
- Began
- Jul 2009
- Ongoing
- Displaced
- 4.1M
- Estimated, as of 31 Dec 2025
- Classification
- NIAC
- Several distinct non-international armed conflicts in one country: a jihadist insurgency in the northeast, farmer-herder and communal violence in the middle belt, and organised armed banditry in the northwest.
Nigeria carries several separate armed conflicts at once. Boko Haram and its Islamic State-aligned splinter operate in the northeast, organised armed groups conduct mass kidnappings and raids in the northwest, and communal violence over land and pastoral routes runs through the middle belt. The three are frequently conflated in reporting despite having different parties and different drivers.
Recorded deaths per month
2,003 deaths recorded from Jul to Sep 2026, the latest months UCDP has coded, against 2,650 from Apr to Jun 2026.
Oct 2024Sep 2026
UCDP counts direct deaths in incidents it codes under its own definitions, so these months are a documented floor.
Latest developments
Barkin Ladi
Gunmen reportedly killed a soldier and three civilians in an attack on Bel village in Sho community, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State, at about 9 pm on Sunday, Daily Trust reported. Several other people were injured, and the Operation Enduring Peace spokesperson had not responded.
Daily TrustGunmen killed five police officers in an ambush on the Sokoto-Gusau highway on Monday evening, police spokesperson Abdullahi Faruk said. The officers were travelling from Sokoto to Zamfara state to provide security for an APC primary election.
Anadolu AgencyRiyom
Gunmen killed a soldier and stole two weapons in an attack on Operation Enduring Peace troops at the Sopp checkpoint in Ungwan Boka, Riyom Local Government Area, Plateau State, at about 8 p.m. on Saturday, Premium Times reported. An army spokesperson called it a deliberate and unprovoked attack.
Premium TimesBarkin Ladi
Gunmen attacked Sabon Angwa community, in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, at about 8 p.m. on Thursday and killed at least four people despite a curfew, a resident told Premium Times. Security operatives could not be reached for confirmation.
Premium TimesMillennium City
Armed men invaded Nuru Suraj Estate in Millennium City, Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State, in the early hours of Tuesday and abducted about six people, according to residents. Premium Times said it could not obtain an immediate response from the Kaduna State Police Command.
Premium TimesThe National Emergency Management Agency's head in Taraba, Ladan Ayuba, said at least 62 people were killed and 52 wounded in Friday's attack on Binnari, in Karim-Lamido Local Government Area, and thousands displaced, the Associated Press reported. A Taraba police spokesperson said the figure was not definite as more bodies were being recovered.
Associated Press via NY1Katsina
Two armed men on a motorcycle shot dead the Katsina-based Islamic cleric Sheikh Yahaya Masusuka and another man outside his residence on Monday evening, according to the Katsina State Police Command. Ansaru claimed responsibility in a video that Premium Times obtained on Tuesday.
Premium TimesTaraba State Governor Agbu Kefas announced on Monday, after an emergency security meeting in Jalingo, that Karim-Lamido Local Government Area would stay designated an area of special security concern for another six months, following the 23 October attack on Binnari. He said those responsible would be identified, arrested and prosecuted.
Premium Times
16 earlier, back to 3 Feb 2026
The Taraba State government put the death toll from the attack on Binnari, in Karim-Lamido Local Government Area, at 25, while Amnesty International puts the number at 40, Anadolu reported.
Anadolu AgencyBakori
The Katsina State Government said in a statement on Friday that community hunters killed 14 suspected bandits in a gun battle in Gidan Wawo village, Bakori Local Government Area, in which a hunter and a traveller also died. It said intelligence pointed to a possible reprisal attack.
Daily TrustTaraba
Gunmen attacked Binnari village in Taraba state on Friday and killed at least 40 people, Amnesty International said, adding that more bodies were recovered later. Police had earlier confirmed 10 deaths and said the attackers fired heavily and looted food from shops, Reuters reported.
Reuters via InternazionaleKaura Namoda
Bandits killed seven members of a local vigilante Joint Task Force and abducted an unspecified number of residents in Kaura Namoda town, Zamfara State, on Friday night, council chairman Munnir Haidara said. A resident told Daily Trust that more than 30 people may have been abducted; the council was still compiling figures.
Daily TrustBarkin Ladi
Gunmen killed four vigilantes on duty in Shurum, a village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, Plateau State, at about 11:56 p.m. on Friday, according to residents. The Berom Youth Moulders Association confirmed the four deaths. Efforts to reach the police for confirmation were unsuccessful, Premium Times reported.
Premium TimesMairari
Security sources told Premium Times that jihadists, either Boko Haram or the Islamic State West Africa Province, attacked the military base in Mairari, Guzamala Local Government Area, Borno State, at midnight on Tuesday, and that 15 soldiers and five members of the Civilian Joint Task Force were killed. The military has not released a statement.
Premium TimesIhugh
The Catholic Diocese of Gboko closed four institutions in Ihugh, Benue State, and withdrew its priests, sisters and other personnel over repeated attacks and arson, in a letter dated 12 October that cited the burning of student hostels at St Winifred Secondary School on 11 October among the incidents.
Premium TimesUkum
Suspected cattle herders killed at least nine people in Tse-Nyaku, Tse-Biliji and adjoining communities of Ukum Local Government Area, Benue State, in attacks that began late on Friday, a local source said; residents fled and Premium Times could not independently verify the toll.
Premium TimesKukawa
Islamic State West Africa Province attacked troops of the 101 Special Forces Battalion at a base in the Kukawa area of Borno State on Tuesday, the Nigerian military said in a statement. The military said an unspecified number of soldiers were killed. A senior military officer told The Associated Press that 10 soldiers were killed.
Associated Press via Arab News PakistanBindin
Gunmen attacked a military base and a mining site in Bindin, in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State; eyewitnesses, victims and a community leader told The ICIR that eight soldiers, one policeman and at least 23 miners were killed. Reports of the toll conflict, and authorities confirmed the attacks without giving details.
The ICIROwo
A joint operation by the army, the State Security Services and the Amotekun regional security network killed Abdussamad Ohida, whom security officials identified as an Islamic State West Africa Province commander, and several members of his group in a forest in Owo, Ondo State, an army brigade spokesperson confirmed.
Daily TrustMarte
Suspected Boko Haram fighters killed 15 farmers and firewood gatherers in the Ala and Musune wards of Marte, Borno State, local sources said; the state police command confirmed the attack.
LeadershipMariga, Zamfara State
Armed gangs abducted at least 87 people over two days: 47 farmers in the Mariga area of Niger State and 40 women in Yargada, Zamfara State, AFP reported.
Al Jazeera and AFPThe New Humanitarian reported that the government and Boko Haram had observed a secret ceasefire since June; the government did not respond, and a Boko Haram judge later denied any truce.
Al JazeeraA joint Nigerian and US operation in northern Nigeria killed Abu Bilal al-Minuki, whom President Trump called the Islamic State's second-in-command.
The NationalKwara State
Gunmen killed at least 162 people in the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara State, the area's member of parliament said; no group claimed the attack.
Associated Press via NBC News
The new developments in this war, the morning after they enter the record, by email or as a feed: Blackwing Desk.
Parties
The state party across all three conflict theatres.
Islamic State West Africa Provincenon-state armed group
The larger of the two jihadist factions in the northeast.
Boko Haram (JAS)non-state armed group
The original northeastern insurgent group, now the smaller faction.
Armed bands in the north-westnon-state armed group
Organised armed groups, often called bandits, that carry out mass kidnappings and raids on villages in the north-west, among them the bands of Bello Turji and Dogo Gide. UCDP's provisional data codes their fighting with the government as a separate state-based conflict in 2026, at war level by September.
Killed
Direct deaths from organised violence recorded by UCDP in 4,822 individually sourced incidents since 1 Jan 2020: a best estimate of 27,614, 5,185 of them coded as civilian. The range is UCDP's own low and high bounds per incident, summed. UCDP's count excludes indirect deaths from disease, starvation and collapsed health care, and any violence that never reached a sourceable report, so it is a documented floor rather than a total. Roughly 6,781 of these deaths come from UCDP's provisional candidate releases and may be revised. As of .
| Source | Figure | As of |
|---|---|---|
| UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset (Uppsala University) 4,822 recorded incidents. UCDP publishes a low, best and high bound for every incident; this is the sum of each. | 23,475–36,575 (best estimate 27,614)As of |
Displaced
People forcibly displaced from Nigeria at the end of 2025, as UNHCR counts them: 3,544,519 displaced inside the country and 534,326 refugees and asylum-seekers abroad. UNHCR does not record why each person fled, so this counts displacement by every conflict and persecution in Nigeria, not only by the fighting this record follows, and anyone who has gone home is no longer in it. As of .
| Source | Figure | As of |
|---|---|---|
| UNHCR Refugee Data Finder UNHCR's official population statistics. Licensed CC BY 4.0. | 3,544,519 internally displaced; 534,326 refugees and asylum-seekersAs of |
Briefings
- How Many Wars Are Going On Right Now? The 2026 Count
Every published count of the world's wars side by side, from the research count that found more armed conflicts in 2025 than in any year since 1946 to legal counts past 130: what each one measures, and the wars behind the numbers.
Standing sources
- UCDP Georeferenced Event Dataset
Individually geocoded, dated and sourced incidents of organised violence worldwide, each with a low, best and high fatality bound.CC BY 4.0
- Geneva Academy War Watch
Formal international-humanitarian-law classification of each situation, and the neutral naming of the parties.
- UNHCR Refugee Data Finder
Official refugee, asylum-seeker and internally displaced population statistics.CC BY 4.0
- Geneva Academy War Watch: Nigeria
The start date: the conflict between Nigeria and Boko Haram, the oldest of its strands, has run since July 2009.
Other wars in the record
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- Russia-Ukraine warActive · Europeat least375k–645k
- Yemen civil warActive · Middle Eastat least33k–69k
- Armed conflicts in PakistanActive · Asiaat least10k–16k
- Myanmar civil warActive · Asiaat least13k–38k
- Haiti gang conflictActive · Americasat least5,915
- Armed conflicts in SyriaActive · Middle Eastat least18k–21k
- Iran-United States war of 2026Active · Middle Eastdisputed3,468–7,650
- Armed conflicts in LebanonCeasefire · Middle Eastat least9,053–9,984
- Israel and the Palestinian territoriesCeasefire · Middle Eastdisputed63k–75k
- Iran-Israel war of June 2025Concluded · Middle Eastdisputed1,090–1,218
Last verified