The Nigerian Army reportedly rescued 11 kidnapping victims in the Kachia Local Government Area (LGA) of southern Kaduna State in a security operation along the Kaduna–Abuja highway on 26 January.
The abductees – five men, three women, and three children – had been in captivity since 26 October 2025, when they were reportedly abducted from the Gadan Mallam Mamman community in Kachia LGA by armed assailants.
According to Nigerian media, soldiers stationed at the Forward Operating Base (FOB) in Doka who were monitoring a long-range CCTV surveillance system saw armed men escorting the 11 victims through the bush between Gidan Duna and Amale in Kachia LGA. They pursued them, causing the terrorists to abandon the abductees and flee into the bush. The victims have been reunited with their families.
Residents of Kauru LGA in southern Kaduna State have also confirmed the killing of over 70 terrorists in a series of military initiatives conducted since 11 January in forested areas that destroyed several notorious bases from which militia men had reportedly launched attacks on vulnerable communities in surrounding areas for many years, including the Agwala, Rafin Gora, Randa and Ruwan Sanyi camps. In addition, several kidnapping victims were rescued, including Barnabas Zakaria and Hosea Barnabas from Doka in Kajuru LGA, and Haruna Ummar, Timothy Musa, Hasat Ummar and Balkisu Ummar from Kauru LGA.
There is speculation that terrorists who fled these military manoeuvres, and who were sighted heading towards Kajuru, may have participated in the abductions of members of three congregations in the Kurmin Wali community of Kajuru LGA on 18 January. 166 abductees remain missing, including children, women and the elderly. In some instances several members of the same family were abducted; thirteen of the abductees are from one family alone.
A CSW Nigeria team who visited Kurmin Wali on 25 January spoke to Lovina Ezekiel, 35, a married woman with six children. During the attack on 18 January, her husband and five of her children, the youngest of whom is five years old, were seized. Tragically, her sixth child, a nine-day-old baby, died on 20 January after falling ill on 19 January, two days after the kidnappings. She also informed the team that her father had been abducted in 2025, and eventually killed, adding, ‘with tears in her eyes,’ that death was preferable to what she was currently experiencing.
The terrorists have demanded N250 million ( approx. USD 179,458) and 20 motorcycles for the release of the abductees.
Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, who visited Kurmin Wali on 24 January, is currently ensuring that 11 people injured during the attack receive support and medical care. Construction work has also begun on a road that will link the community to the highway. In addition, the governor promised to station a military base close to the area, in collaboration with relevant authorities.
In one of the latest abductions in Kaduna State, militia men invaded the Angwan Adiko, Kafari–Kujama community in Chikun LGA on 26 January and kidnapped Rev Christopher Rufa’asiri of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, and his wife Patience Christopher.
Rev Yunusa Sabo Nmadu, CEO of CSWN, said: ‘We commend the Kaduna State government for providing medical assistance to the 11 victims in Kurmin Wali who initially escaped their captors, for mobilising construction equipment to begin repairing the road to the community, and for providing greater security. However, the continued captivity of the remaining victims, and the fear and apprehension tormenting their families, calls for urgent action to rescue them. Their swift return will help to rebuild the trust that was dented by initial official denials of the kidnappings. We also commend the successful initiatives against terrorist factions in Kauru and Kachia LGA. Every effort must be made to secure the release of all kidnapping victims, to destroy every remaining terrorist camps in forested areas, and to rid both the state and the nation of a scourge that has devastated too many lives for far too long.’