By Abdulkareem Haruna


MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Boko Haram militants loyal to Imam Abu Umayma have declared a new territorial headquarters in the village of Ngoshe, following a mid-Ramadan offensive that left at least 30 people dead and more than 200 women and children in captivity.

The insurgent group released a chilling three-minute video Thursday, March 4, 2026, showing five armed men inside Ngoshe’s central mosque. In the footage, a spokesperson announced the “official capture” of the village, located 37 kilometers from Gwoza, and vowed to expand their campaign as far as the nation’s capital.

“Today, we have proven wrong those boasting that we cannot do anything,” the militant stated in Hausa, flanked by masked fighters. “We have declared it our territory… we have captured women and children and converted them to slaves. Our next Eid shall be observed in Ngoshe.”

The capture of Ngoshe, which saw the military base, an IDP camp, and residential areas razed to the ground, coincided with a wave of coordinated attacks across the Borno region, including Konduga, ane Marte, Jakana

A Night of Terror
Survivors in Ngoshe described a scene of total carnage that began at 6:20 p.m., just as residents were preparing to break their daily fast.

“It seemed they surrounded the entire village because the shooting was coming from all directions,” said Shaibu Dabawa, the District Secretary of Ngoshe. “It was a hell of firing. We lost count of those killed that we saw littering the ground as we escaped.”

Displaced women of Ngoshe

Dabawa confirmed that the casualties include several soldiers, community elders, and the Chief Imam of Ngoshe. He noted that the village currently remains without a military presence, leaving the bodies of the slain unburied and the elderly stranded.
“Our village is gone,” Dabawa said.

Military Response and High-Ranking Casualties
While the insurgents claimed a total rout in Ngoshe, the Nigerian Army’s Joint Task Force (North East) Operation HADIN KAI (OPHK) maintained that it successfully thwarted simultaneous attempts to overrun other key locations.
In a press statement issued Friday by Lt. Col. Sani Uba, the military confirmed that a “gallant officer” and several soldiers “paid the supreme price” during the fierce engagements. Sources identified one of the deceased as a Lieutenant Colonel, known as Lt. Col. Samuel, who was killed during a sustained 10 p.m. assault on the military base in Konduga.
Despite the losses, the military insists it remains in control of the broader battlespace.

“The desperate attacks were met with overwhelming resistance from alert and determined troops,” Uba stated, noting that precision air strikes were conducted overnight against fleeing insurgents. “In some isolated instances where sections of the defensive perimeter were temporarily breached, troops swiftly counter-attacked and fully regained control.”
Witnesses told AP that as many as a dozen critically injured soldiers and several civilians were admitted to the trauma center at University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital following an attack in Konduga on Thursday night.

A senior medical officer at the hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said at least eight patients, including two minors, were brought to the facility for treatment.

“We also have a member of the Civilian JTF, Musa Kwajafa, who is currently in the ICU for treatment of a severe gunshot injury,” the official said.

Kwajafa, 46, was reportedly trailed to his home by Boko Haram gunmen long after the initial attack was repelled. The attackers ambushed and shot him at close range before fleeing, according to information gathered by the AP.

The latest video and the scale of the coordinated attacks have drawn comparisons to the peak of the Boko Haram insurgency under the late Abubakar Shekau. The group’s explicit threat to “take the barrel further” to Abuja has heightened security concerns across the country.

For now, the focus remains on the hundreds of missing civilians. “More than 300 persons—women and girls—were taken away,” Dabawa said. “We need support. We need security to go in and bury our corpses.”