IED event in Nigeria on Tue 20th January 2026

Nigeria 🇳🇬 | As part of Operation "Desert Sanity," a component of Operation Hadin Kai, starting on January 17th, the IDF, assisted by the CJTF (Civilian Joint Task Force), conducted sweep operations in the Timbuktu Triangle and the Sambisa Forest (Borno State).

🔹 These two areas are known to harbor ISWAP terrorist hideouts.

🔸 The operation resulted in the destruction of several terrorist hideouts and the seizure of weapons, propaganda materials, and vehicles.

🔹 Despite some exchanges of fire, the terrorists fled before the advancing IDF.

⚠️ Unfortunately, on January 20th, near the villages of Ajigin and Chiralia, an IDF convoy was attacked by dozens of ISWAP terrorists, who far outnumbered them. The terrorists launched two VBIEDs (Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices) at the soldiers. The soldiers managed to stop the first vehicle, but the second exploded amidst the security forces, killing many of them. Five soldiers and three members of the CJTF (Combined Joint Task Force) were killed, and nearly 50 security forces were wounded.

The soldiers were forced to retreat to Damboa, while the bodies of the dead and the wounded were evacuated to Maiduguri. On January 20, nearly 170 worshipers from three Christian parishes were abducted by armed bandits near Kurmin Wali (Kaduna). After initially denying the event, the authorities acknowledged it as an "incident."

🔹 Let us recall that the United States of America intervened militarily in the north of the country on 25/12, mentioning that a massacre of Christians was taking place in Nigeria.