Sleeper Cells inside Towns Assist Attacks
‘We have reached a breaking point’ – Pastor
ADAMAWA STATE — The smoking ruins of Garaha (Graha) in Hong Local Government Area (LGA) tell the story of a community devastated by repeated attacks. Christian farming families have fled their homes as Boko Haram (Western Learning Forbidden) terrorists intensify assaults, raising fears that more settlements could be overrun.
“We have reached a breaking point,” said Reverend Manasseh Mbafe, Christian Association of Nigeria Secretary of Hong Local Government Area Chapter, to TruthNigeria.
“More than 100 houses belonging to Christians have been completely destroyed by the Islamists. And they have not stopped in Hong Local Government — they are currently advancing toward Gombi Local Government with mass destruction and killings in their wake,” Mbafe continued.
The assault on Garaha appears amid a wider pattern of attacks in Hong and neighbouring communities. Daily Trust reported suspected Boko Haram fighters invaded Bitirhuya, killing four residents and setting houses ablaze. The attackers reportedly arrived on motorcycles between 5 pm and 6 pm and fired sporadically, repeating attacks documented by Truthnigeria last week.
“What we are passing through is a systematic and calculated genocide against indigenous Christians. Thousands have been displaced. We have been conducting mass burials of Christians. Eight Christian communities have already been completely displaced. Our communities that are being erased are 100 percent Christian. We have lost count of loved ones lost to Boko Haram terrorists,” Mbafe told TruthNigeria.
Heavy Military Casualties and a Two-Pronged Strategy
Local security forces have suffered heavy losses as they attempt to contain the attacks Engineer Caleb David told Truthnigeria. David is a community leader and eyewitness who visited the affected area and described the casualties and destruction.
“Dozens of soldiers and forest guards have been killed. I have the video evidence. Soldiers have paid the supreme price. We went to the scene to check the atrocities — this is a systematic attack trying to establish a caliphate,” he told TruthNigeria.
David described what he sees as a two-pronged threat: Armed Boko Haram insurgents attacking communities from outside, alongside people within towns allegedly calling for Hisbah, an Islamic morality police, to enforce strict religious governance.
“It is not an isolated case. While Boko Haram is fighting to establish Sharia through jihad, others inside are calling for Hisbah. This is a full-blown war,” David told TruthNigeria.
The violence has included attacks on military positions and abductions. On the eve of Nigeria’s Independence Day (Oct. 1), attackers struck the 232 Battalion outpost in Garaha-Mojili around midnight on September 30, killing three soldiers and a forest guard and abducting two women. Nearby Dakna, in Dugwaba District, was also raided, with two more women and an eight-year-old child reportedly seized, TruthNigeria reported on the coordinated attacks.
In August 2026, suspected Boko Haram terrorists attacked Gaya-Dlang in Hong LGA, killing a police inspector and seven civilians and abducting four girls, Sahara Reporters reported. Later attacks included the assault on Bitirhuya and the killing of 12 people in Nzangola village, Gombi LGA.
Voices from the Ashes
For displaced residents sheltering in Yola, returning home remains impossible while attackers are believed to control their communities. Christians were specifically targeted, according to locals.
“We are now displaced and came out with nothing,” according to Lydia Ishaku, who fled Garaha. “Everything was destroyed. We cannot return to our ancestral home because Boko Haram is occupying everywhere. We desperately want the government to intervene,” Ishaku told TruthNigeria.
Local clergy said Boko Haram fighters destroyed an EYN church—Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria—on October 8, 2026, in Hong LGA. Reverend Mbafe warned that the destruction forms part of a wider effort to erase Christian farming settlements, according to TruthNigeria’s report on the military response.
In Gombi LGA, suspected Boko Haram terrorists overran Dzangola Kilba, killing 30 civilians. Evangelist David Barnabas, of the EYN Church of the Brethren, was locked inside his home before it was set on fire.
The attack was described as the fourth assault in six months on communities in Hong and Gombi.
Sleeper Cells
A high-ranking security source, speaking to TruthNigeria anonymously because he was not authorized to brief the press, alleged that insurgents receive help from people inside affected communities. “Boko Haram members are not only in the bush; they have people inside sharing real-time intelligence with them on how to ambush soldiers on the frontline and overrun Christian communities. It is a religious war and a jihad. Since this renewed offensive started, not a single Muslim has been killed,” the anonymous security source told TruthNigeria. These claims could not be independently verified from the information provided.
The crisis in Garaha reflects the broader insecurity confronting rural communities across Adamawa and southern Borno State. Residents and local leaders are urging the federal and state governments to protect civilians, reinforce security deployments and help displaced families return safely.
Without urgent and effective intervention in Hong and Gombi LGAs, community leaders fear the insurgency could spread further, bringing more deaths, displacement and destruction.
Suleman Ayuba is a conflict reporter for TruthNigeria.
