Gunmen stormed a primary and junior secondary school in Mussa, while coordinated assaults on nearby Christian communities left eight people dead.
By Luka Binniyat & Sulieman Ayuba
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Armed insurgents abducted 40 schoolchildren — including children under the age of five — during a Friday morning raid on Mussa town in Askira/Uba County, local officials told TruthNigeria. The attack came just hours after coordinated assaults on nearby Christian communities left eight people dead.
The incident came barely hours after another terrorist attack was carried out on Christian communities neighbouring Chibok town, in Chibok Local Government Area (LGA) on Thursday night, leaving eight Christians dead, including a day-old baby.
The President of the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), Dr. Pogu Bitrus, confirmed the incident to TruthNigeria from Chibok on Friday, May 15, 2026.
Kidnapped Shortly After Military Patrol Team Left
Vanguard reported on Friday that an unspecified number of students of Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira-Uba LGA of Borno State were feared abducted by either Boko Haram terrorists or fighters of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) at about 9am local time on Friday, May 15, 2026.
TruthNigeria confirmed 40 were taken, according to local sources.
Mussa, described as a predominantly Christian community, lies on the southern fringe of the Sambisa Forest, notorious as a hideout for Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists.
The newspaper reported that the Deputy Speaker of the Borno State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Abdullahi Askira, who also hails from Askira-Uba LGA, confirmed the invasion of the school by terrorists, although details remained sketchy at the time it went to press.
According to the report, armed terrorists stormed the school premises on motorcycles barely 10 to 15 minutes after troops stationed in the area had left the community on patrol. Many students reportedly fled into nearby bushes to escape the attackers.
The report also said that the Deputy Speaker further stated: “Yes, I can confirm to you that some suspected terrorists riding on motorcycles invaded primary and junior secondary schools in Mussa village this morning.
“Information at my disposal was that many of the students fled into the bush, but I don’t have details of those abducted yet,” Vanguard quoted Askira as saying.
“It is also disheartening that the incident took place barely some few minutes after troops on patrol left the community; this signifies that the insurgents or the attackers were spying on the movement of troops before they struck,” the Deputy Speaker said, as reported by Vanguard.
Previous Deadly Attack
On April 16, 2026, Punch reported that suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked Mussa community in Askira/Uba LGA, killing four Nigerian soldiers and one female civilian. According to the report, the attack occurred around midday, and troops of the 115 Task Force Battalion fought back to prevent the insurgents from fully overrunning the town.
Boko Haram Kill 8, Lost 5 Fighters Too
Meanwhile, Bambatsu, Sangula, and Ngadarma — a cluster of communities around Chibok town — came under simultaneous attacks by Boko Haram terrorists on Thursday night, May 14, 2026, leaving eight persons dead and about 23 others injured, Dr. Pogu Bitrus, a native of Chibok, told TruthNigeria on Friday.
“They crept into three communities around Chibok and started attacking them at the same time around 3am,” he said.
“Each village vigilante group, including local hunters tried their best and even killed some of the Boko Haram terrorists — about 5 of them,” he said.
“Our people who were killed or injured were those running in different directions due to panic and confusion and became easy targets for the terrorists,” Dr. Bitrus told TruthNigeria.
“In Bambatsu, we lost seven people, and in Ngadarma, we lost one person,” he said.
Sadly, according to him, one Mrs. Sangula Happy, who gave birth to a baby girl in Ngadarma just 12 hours before the attack, lost the child in the pandemonium.
“The mother is also under intensive care in a hospital in Chibok town due to grief and trauma,” he said
“Twenty-three other villagers sustained various gunshot wounds, most of them being local guards,” he added.
Centuries of Resistance Against Jihadists
According to him, all communities around Chibok are Christians and Boko Haram and ISWAP have been waging attacks on them to either force them to Islamise or force them out of their ancestral lands since 2011.
“We have resisted Islamisation dating back centuries of struggles against Jihadists,” he said.
“If they could subdue our ancestors, they cannot defeat us now that we have Jesus as our guide and saviour,”he said.
The Infamous Chibok School Girls Kidnap Saga
School raids remind most of the night of April 14–15, 2014, when Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, while the girls were preparing for their final examinations. The mass kidnapping immediately drew international outrage and became one of the most infamous terrorist attacks in modern African history as captured by Wikipedia.
The abduction generated the global “#BringBackOurGirls” campaign, which attracted support from world leaders, celebrities and human rights organisations. Former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and several international figures publicly demanded urgent action from the Nigerian government and the international community, Wikipedia recalls.
According to Amnesty International over the years, some of the girls escaped from captivity, while others were released through negotiations and military operations. Many survivors later returned to school and received rehabilitation support, though they continued to struggle with trauma after years in captivity. However, several girls remain unaccounted for more than a decade later.
