Nigeria: Jihad group issues 72-hour ultimatum to government, threatens to murder 416 captives
This is all entirely in accord with Islamic law. The video is designed to “strike terror in the enemies of Allah” (Qur’an 8:60). The kidnapping itself is a matter of precise legal directives: “As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, ‘When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks’ (Qur’an sura 47, verse 4)” — Al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance).
Note also that it’s Boko Haram that is issuing an ultimatum to the government, and not the other way around. It’s clear which is the more powerful force.
Philippine Troops Kill 10 Islamic Separatist Jihadis in Lanao del Sur Clash
Philippine security forces killed at least 10 suspected Islamic jihadis in Lanao del Sur province on April 17, 2026, in one of the most significant encounters in the country’s restive southern region. The clash broke out in Marantao when joint teams of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines attempted to serve multiple arrest warrants against Amerol Mangoranca, a jihadi commander of the Dawlah Islamiya-Maute group, an ISIS-affiliated faction in the southern Philippines. He led a local armed cell in Lanao del Sur, one of the key hotspots of Islamic insurgency in the Philippines, and is accused of carrying out ambush attacks that killed four soldiers in January 2026.
Authorities said the jihadis were holed up in a residential compound. As troops approached the hideout, the jihadis opened fire, triggering an intense gun battle that lasted for about an hour. Mangoranca and nine other suspected jihadis, including four women, were killed in the exchange. The female casualties are believed to have been active members of the jihadi network, highlighting that women within these communities are also involved in pursuing the jihadist objectives of these groups. Troops recovered a cache of high-powered firearms, improvised explosive devices, ammunition, and bomb-making components, suggesting the group had been preparing for further attacks.
Dawlah Islamiya, an umbrella organization of pro–Islamic State factions in the southern Philippines, including remnants of the Maute group, is a jihadist group that the brothers Abdullah and Omar Maute founded around 2013 in Lanao del Sur. The group pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and sought to establish a wilayah, or province, of a global caliphate in Mindanao. The Maute group rose to prominence during the 2017 Siege of Marawi, when ISIS-linked jihadis seized large parts of the city, triggering a five-month urban conflict that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced over 350,000 residents.
Even after the defeat of the Marawi siege, Dawlah Islamiya factions have continued to carry out sporadic but deadly attacks across Mindanao and nearby island provinces. On August 24, 2020, twin bombings struck Jolo town in Sulu province, killing about 14–15 people, including soldiers and civilians, and injuring more than 75 others. The first explosion involved a motorcycle-borne improvised explosive device that jihadis placed near a military truck, while a female suicide bomber who detonated herself as security forces responded carried out the second. The use of suicide tactics reflected a growing shift toward ISIS-inspired methods in the region.
On December 3, 2023, a jihad bombing during a Catholic mass at Mindanao State University in Marawi City killed four people and injured at least 50 others after an improvised explosive device was detonated inside a crowded gymnasium.
Earlier, on January 27, 2019, twin jihad blasts targeted the Jolo Cathedral in Jolo, Sulu, killing 20 people and injuring over 100. The first explosion occurred inside the cathedral during Sunday mass, followed by a second blast outside as security forces responded. Another major incident occurred on June 28, 2019, at a military camp in Indanan, Sulu, where two jihadis detonated explosives on their bodies, killing at least six people, including soldiers and civilians, and injuring more than 20 others. Philippine authorities attributed the attack to Abu Sayyaf jihadis linked to the Islamic State.
The Islamic insurgency in the Philippines is rooted in decades-long separatist movements among the Moro Muslim population in Mindanao. Groups such as the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front led armed attacks beginning in the 1970s. While these movements initially sought full independence, they later entered into peace negotiations with the Philippine government, leading to autonomy arrangements.
A major breakthrough occurred with the establishment of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2019, granting greater political and administrative control to Muslim-majority areas. However, some factions rejected the peace deal, and jihadi groups such as Dawlah Islamiya and elements of Abu Sayyaf continued to push for a fully independent Islamic state and pursue armed jihad. These groups have relied on a mix of guerrilla warfare, urban terrorism, bombings, and kidnappings for ransom to sustain their operations.
The insurgency in the Philippines bears a stark resemblance to historical developments in South Asia, particularly the creation of Pakistan in 1947 through the Partition of India, a process that involved large-scale communal violence and mass displacement of Hindus. This demand, however, did not stop with the creation of Pakistan and later Bangladesh. As the Muslim population increased in Kashmir, Islamic militancy rose sharply in the late 1980s, leading to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Hindus. Islamic separatists sought to secede from India and join Pakistan. Today, as insurgent groups continue to pursue separatist goals in the Philippines, the situation offers patterns and lessons that the world can observe and learn from.
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