Reports Zainab Muhammad Bashir

Suspected ISWAP terrorists have reportedly blocked the Maiduguri–Damaturu highway, protesting against military airstrikes in Jilli market.

Security sources said the blockade followed the air operation targeting terrorists and their collaborators in the Jilli area, which reportedly dealt a blow to the group’s activities.

According to a video shared by a counter terrorism expert, @mobilisingniger on X, the insurgents moved to the highway in what appeared to be a show of defiance.

“After the airstrike in Jilli market, they started acting aggressively. Today, they blocked the road and stopped movement,” he said.

Last Saturday, the Nigerian military launched an airstrike on a crowded weekly market along the Borno–Yobe border, leaving no fewer than 56 people feared dead, with at least 14 others hospitalised.

Zulum maintained that the closure was part of broader security measures to cut off supply chains and gathering points allegedly exploited by insurgents and their collaborators.

Similarly, Minister of Defence, Christopher Musa, firmly defended the airstrike on Jilli in Borno State, saying the operation was not a tragic misfire but a calculated disruption of insurgent logistics.

Speaking during an appearance on Arise TV following a high-level security meeting chaired by Bola Tinubu, Musa rejected widespread claims that civilians were among those killed.

Instead, he argued that the location had evolved into a critical support hub for terrorist groups.

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