Situation report: Birnin Gwari and Kamuku forest (Kaduna)
Named danger area.
| Level Extreme |
Coordinates 10°39′00″N 6°33′00″E 10.6500, 6.5500 radius ≈ 50 km |
Covers 1 LGA |
Report date 2026-09-28 |
Forest and highway belt west of Kaduna, one of the oldest kidnapping zones in the north-west.
Map: LGAs shaded by twelve-month ACLED intensity (2025-10 to 2026-09); black outline = this named danger area; dashed = state lines; squares = military installations (town level).
Conflict intensity, last twelve months (ACLED)
| Political-violence events | 56 |
| Deaths in those events | 93 |
| Attacks on civilians | 37 |
| Civilians killed | 58 |
| LGAs at extreme | 1 |
| LGAs at high | 0 |
| LGAs at elevated | 0 |
Where it concentrates
| LGA | Level | Civ. killed | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birnin-Gwari | Extreme | 58 | rising |
How it developed
Archive record
2 incidents in the Dustline archive fall here, with 9 deaths recorded.
| Date | Place | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-09 | Birnin Gwari, Kaduna | Troops eliminate senior bandit commander 'Kachalla' along Kaduna–Birnin Gwari highway |
| 2026-01-19 | Birnin Gwari, Kaduna | Troops ambush bandit cattle rustling column along Birnin Gwari-Funtua corridor |
Military installations within 150 km
| Air Training Command / NAF Base Kaduna | Kaduna | 84 km |
| 1 Division | Kaduna | 96 km |
| Nigerian Defence Academy | Kaduna | 98 km |
Advisories and named areas
US travel advisory: Kaduna State — Kidnapping (Level 4, do not travel).
Limits
- ACLED counts recorded events. Rural violence is under-reported everywhere, and more so where journalists cannot go.
- Levels summarise twelve months; a road can change within days. Current advisories and local security briefings outrank this report.
- Approximate extent drawn as a circle around a well-known location. It marks where danger is concentrated, not a line inside which it begins; the areas around it are not implied to be safe.
Sources: Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), www.acleddata.com — aggregates via HDX, as of 25 September 2026. Boundaries: OCHA COD-AB Nigeria (CC BY-IGO). Map base: Natural Earth (public domain), naturalearthdata.com; state boundaries OCHA COD-AB Nigeria (CC BY-IGO). Archive: Dustline snapshot of dustlinemap.online, 22 September 2026. Advisory: US Department of State.