The Borno State Police Command has launched a search operation for three missing farmers following an attack by suspected Boko Haram insurgents that left 15 people dead in the state’s Marte Local Government Area.
The victims were targeted on Wednesday night across the Ala and Musune wards while working on their farmlands and gathering firewood.
Borno State Police Public Relations Officer Nahum Daso confirmed the casualty count to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, stating that security forces are actively working to locate the missing individuals and secure the surrounding area.
Daso said, “Yes, there was an attack in Marte. Fifteen people were killed while others are still missing. Efforts are ongoing to determine their whereabouts.”
The police spokesperson stated that specific details surrounding the attack remain preliminary and assured that the command will provide further updates as additional information becomes available.
Local sources reported that 18 farmers were targeted in total. The bodies of the 15 confirmed victims—comprising young men, married individuals, and elderly residents gathering firewood or working their fields—were recovered from the area and interred on Thursday in accordance with Islamic rites.
According to a resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the assailants ambushed the farmers, bound them, and executed them at close range.
“They were ambushed by terrorists while carrying out their daily work, bound, forced to lie down, and executed at close range,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
Amnesty International reacts
Amnesty International denounced the assault, describing the murders as heinous and a serious transgression of international humanitarian law.
The victims were locals who went into the nearby bush to get firewood in order to make a living or prepare meals for their family, according to a statement released by the organization on Friday.
Amnesty International urged the Federal Government to act right away to save Northeast communities that are at risk.
In order to safeguard local populations, it called on the government to take “immediate, transparent, and human rights-compliant steps.”
Read Also: Amnesty International urges Nigerian government to protect children after deadly Borno school attack
Backstory…
Although military operations have pushed insurgents out of many towns they once controlled, Boko Haram and its splinter faction, ISWAP, have continued to operate around remote communities, forests and the Lake Chad Basin.
In April 2026, suspected ISWAP fighters reportedly attacked loggers in a forest outside Mafa, killing 27 and abducting 18 others, according to residents and anti-jihadist militia sources cited by AFP.
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