Nigeria says more than 13,000 militants killed in past year amid ongoing insecurity
Nigeria's president has said the military has killed more than 13,000 "terrorists" in the past year, in a national address delivered on Democracy Day. Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the figure reflected gains in the fight against armed groups and criminal gangs, even as the country continues to face mass kidnappings and attacks in several regions. He also said 124,000 fighters and dependants had laid down their arms since 2023 through Operation Safe Corridor.
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Tinubu made the remarks in a televised speech marking Democracy Day, which commemorates the end of military rule and the restoration of democracy in 1999. He said the death toll from Nigeria's fight against armed rebels was down 81% since he took office in 2023. The president did not provide further detail in the speech on where the killings took place or how the figures were compiled.
The address came against the backdrop of a continuing insecurity crisis that has affected schools, churches, mosques and rural communities with limited state security presence. Armed groups linked to ISIL and al-Qaeda, along with criminal gangs, have carried out abductions for ransom, and officials say some groups have shifted from the north into the southwest under military pressure. The latest reported rescue operation, announced earlier this week, involved 360 people freed from a mountain hideout in northern Borno State.
The figures are politically significant because they are being presented as evidence of progress in a conflict that has shaped Nigeria's security agenda for years. Nigeria is Africa's second-biggest economy, and persistent violence has continued to disrupt daily life, strain public confidence and draw international attention. The mention of Operation Safe Corridor also points to the government's parallel approach of combining military pressure with rehabilitation for those who surrender.
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The broader conflict has evolved from an insurgency concentrated in the north into a wider security challenge involving multiple armed actors and criminal networks. Officials have said pressure from the military has pushed some groups to move through forest corridors and expand their reach. The reported deployment of 100 American soldiers in February to support precision strikes also underlines the external dimension of the response.
What remains unclear is how independently the casualty and surrender figures can be verified, and how much of the reported decline reflects battlefield gains versus changes in militant tactics. It is also not clear whether the latest figures will translate into a sustained reduction in kidnappings and attacks. The next developments to watch are further official security briefings, any response from armed groups, and whether violence continues to spread beyond the north.
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