JAS (Boko Haram Faction) Massacres 57 Civilians in Kukawa, Borno State

Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad (JAS), the original Boko Haram faction, attacked the villages of Mallam Karamti and Kwatandashi in Kukawa Local Government Area near Baga town, Borno State, accusing residents of spying for the rival ISWAP faction. An estimated 100 civilians were seized from their homes; 57 bodies were later recovered and approximately 70 people remained missing. The massacre is one of the deadliest single JAS attacks in 2026 and reflects intensifying violence between JAS and ISWAP for territorial control in the Lake Chad Basin — an intra-jihadist rivalry that increasingly victimizes civilian populations caught between the two factions.