ISWAP attack kills 11 farmers in Nigeria's Borno and Zamfara states

Gunmen from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) massacred 11 farmers in two separate attacks on June 21, 2026. In Kuwawu village, Borno State, seven farmers were rounded up and slit throats, while four more were shot dead on farms near Kross Kauwa in the Lake Chad region of Zamfara State. Militia fighters blamed ISWAP for both incidents. The attacks are part of a broader surge in violence against rural communities in northern and central Nigeria, where armed groups impose levies on farmers and target those who refuse to pay. The killings further threaten agricultural production in a region that supplies about 70 % of Nigeria’s cereals, heightening concerns about poverty and food insecurity raised by the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF urged the Nigerian government to enhance protection for farmers and herders, warning that continued assaults could exacerbate hunger in a country already facing widespread malnutrition.