Terrorists killed a brigadier general and at least 18 soldiers in an overnight assault on a military base in northeast Nigeria, in one of the deadliest attacks on the army in months. The strike hit a base in Benisheikh, about 75 kilometres from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital.
Kaga Local Government Chairman Zannah Lawan Ajimi told AFP that the brigade commander, Brigadier General O.O. Braimah, lost his life. Two intelligence sources confirmed his death to AFP. One of them said the attackers overran the brigade, while the second said they killed several troops and burned vehicles and buildings before withdrawing.
The army and Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The loss lands at a sensitive moment for the military, which is already reeling from the killing of Brigadier General Musa Uba by ISWAP in November. Uba was the highest-ranking military official to die in the long-running conflict since 2021.
Benisheikh sits inside the northeastern theatre that has been battered by a 17-year insurgency that began with Boko Haram’s uprising in 2009. The conflict has splintered into groups including Islamic State West Africa Province, and researchers have warned of an uptick in violence since 2025. Maiduguri, the region’s main city, has also seen two suicide bombings since December, underscoring how fragile the security picture remains even in areas the army has long tried to hold.
The attack also comes as insecurity is spreading beyond the northeast. On Wednesday, the US State Department said it was authorising non-emergency US government employees to leave Abuja because of the deteriorating security situation. For Nigeria, the pattern is no longer just a battle in the countryside; it is a widening test of state control.
