# At least 29 killed in attack on Adamawa football pitch, governor says

*Event date: 2026-04-26*

Gunmen killed at least 29 people in Guyaku community in Adamawa state, according to the state governor’s office, in one of the deadliest attacks reported in north-east Nigeria this year. The assault hit an area where residents had gathered at a football pitch, adding another grim entry to a conflict zone already shaped by jihadist violence, criminal raids and communal tension.

Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri visited the scene and his spokesperson said he had confirmed that no fewer than 29 people were killed in the attack in Gombi local government area. Local residents told AFP that the victims were young people watching football when insurgents entered and began firing. One resident said the dead included youths and women who had come to watch the match. Another said the attackers burned places of worship, houses and motorcycles.

The attack matters because Adamawa is not only exposed to Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province activity, but also to clashes over land and other local disputes. That overlap has made the state especially vulnerable: violent groups exploit weak security, while community tensions create additional flashpoints. The governor’s office said the attackers operated for several hours, which suggests the assailants were able to move with relative freedom before security forces could respond.

A separate layer of complexity is the dispute over responsibility. Fintiri blamed Boko Haram militants, but a rival group, ISWAP, later claimed the attack and said it had killed Christians and torched a church and nearly 100 motorcycles. That contradiction is significant because responsibility claims in Nigeria’s insurgency often carry propaganda value and can reflect rivalry between armed groups as much as the factual chain of events on the ground. The reporting did not resolve that dispute, and neither can this article.

What can be stated with confidence is that the attack intensified fears in a region that has suffered years of insurgency and displacement. The United Nations says the jihadist conflict in north-east Nigeria has left tens of thousands dead and millions uprooted since 2009, and the violence has spilled into neighboring states and countries. The attack also came as Nigeria’s broader security crisis is under renewed scrutiny at home and abroad, with elections less than a year away and with communities increasingly questioning whether the state can protect people at everyday public gatherings.

The human picture is stark. A football pitch is normally a place of noise and routine, but in Guyaku it became a site of mass killing. The confirmed toll stands at at least 29 dead, with the final scale of destruction likely to depend on whether all missing people are accounted for. The broader pattern, however, is already clear: armed groups continue to exploit weak security, and civilians remain the main targets.