Title: Nigeria: Extremism and Terrorism | Counter Extremism Project
Headings: Nigeria: Extremism and Terrorism
Nigeria: Extremism and Terrorism
Overview
Radicalization and Foreign Fighters
Boko Haram
Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)
Kala Kato
Izala
Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN)
Movement for the Islamic Revival (MIR)
Major Extremist and Terrorist Incidents
Abductions
August 26, 2011
Boko Haram militants detonate a car bomb outside of the United Nations building in Abuja.
December 19, 2012
Ansaru militants kidnap 63-year-old French national Francis Colump in Rimi, Nigeria, a small town close to the Niger border.
January 20, 2013
Ansaru militants open fire on a convoy of Nigerian troops on route to Mali.
February 16, 2013
Ansaru militants kidnap and kill seven construction workers in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
December 19, 2012
Boko Haram militants detonate a car bomb outside of the United Nations building in Abuja.
Ansaru militants kidnap 63-year-old French national Francis Colump in Rimi, Nigeria, a small town close to the Niger border.
Ansaru militants open fire on a convoy of Nigerian troops on route to Mali.
Ansaru militants kidnap and kill seven construction workers in Bauchi State, Nigeria.
Boko Haram insurgents attack the Nigerian army barracks in Bama, southern Borno State, killing 20 military personnel and numerous civilians.
Ansaru militants release a video of French hostage Francis Colump, who was kidnapped in December 2012.
Boko Haram militants shoot or burn to death 59 students at an all-male boarding school in Nigeria’s northeast Yobe State.
The #BringBackOurGirls campaign goes viral and the U.S. vows to help “in any way we can.”
In one of its highest-profile attacks, Boko Haram kidnaps 276 girls from a boarding school in Chibok, Borno state.
In an overnight kidnapping, armed men in Nigerian military uniforms arrive at an all-girls secondary school in Chibok.
Twin bomb attacks during morning rush hour kill 71 and injure 124 in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
The Nigerian military claims it has rescued nearly all of the girls.
Boko Haram releases a video claiming responsibility for the kidnapping.
Two Boko Haram suicide attacks in Kaduna, Nigeria, kill 82 people. One of the attacks targets former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Boko Haram militants kidnap the wife of Amadou Ali, Cameroon’s vice prime minister and one of the country’s most prominent political figures.
Boko Haram gunmen abduct approximately 60 girls from a boarding school in a northern Nigerian town close to the border with Cameroon.
Gunmen, allegedly belonging to Boko Haram, detonate three bombs and open fire on worshippers at a mosque in northern Nigeria’s biggest city, Kano.
Boko Haram releases a video of its militants killing civilians.
Boko Haram launches its deadliest attack to date, killing over 2,000 civilians in a 10-day raid of multiple towns in northern Nigerian.
Two ten-year old female suicide bombers kill at least three people in an open-air market in Potiskum, Yobe State.
A female suicide bomber self-detonates in Gombe city in northern Nigeria, purportedly targeting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan who had just left a campaign rally.
Coalition forces, consisting of troops from Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin, launch a ground and air campaign against Boko Haram.
Boko Haram militants armed with guns, knives, and petrol bombs invade Njaba, a remote village in Borno State, Nigeria and kill 68 people.
A mass grave of approximately 70 individuals killed by Boko Haram is discovered in Damasak, Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants, disguised as preachers, attack a village in Borno State, killing 24 men and women near a mosque.
The Nigerian army rescues 200 girls and 93 women during an offensive against Boko Haram in the Sambisa Forest.
Nigerian troops rescue 160 women and children in the northeastern Sambisa Forest that had been taken hostage by Boko Haram.
Boko Haram insurgents carried out an attack on two towns in Niger’s Diffa region near the Nigerian border.
In Borno State, Boko Haram militants gun down nearly 150 people as they pray in mosques during the holy month of Ramadan.
Boko Haram insurgents murder more than 140 Nigerians in attacks across the northeast of the country.
Boko Haram militants attack a convoy carrying Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, the new head of the Nigerian army.
Boko Haram gunmen on horseback kill 79 people in remote villages in northeastern Nigeria.
Suspected Boko Haram militants kill 50 people in an attack on a town in the Gwoza, a local government area in Borno State.
Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers kill 49 people and wound more than 80 in the eastern city of Yola, Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants attack three villages in northeast Nigeria, killing 30 people and wounding 20 others.
Boko Haram insurgents launch a Christmas day attack on a town in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 14 individuals and wounding several others.
Boko Haram insurgents kill at least 80 people with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombings in northeastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram suicide bombers kill seven in northeastern Nigeria in one of the group’s first attacks since President Buhari announced its defeat in December 2015.
Six suicide bombers detonate explosives at a military checkpoint and a vegetable market in Chibok, killing a total of 16 people.
Insurgents belonging to Boko Haram kill at least 65 individuals in Dalori village near Maiduguri.
Two female suicide bombers detonate explosives at Dikwa, a displaced persons camp, killing at least 58 people and wounding 78 others.
Two female suicide bombers, suspected to belong to Boko Haram, kill 22 people outside of a mosque in Maiduguri.
Boko Haram militants kill 24 people as they mourn at a funeral in the village of Kuda in Nigeria’s Adamawa State.
Boko Haram insurgents launch three attacks in the village of Tallari in Borno State.
Boko Haram releases 21 Chibok school girls to Nigerian authorities.
Two school-aged, female suicide bombers kill at least 30 people and wound 67 others at a marketplace in Madagali, Adamawa State.
Boko Haram insurgents attack a refugee camp hours after it is mistakenly bombed by the Nigerian air force.
Boko Haram insurgents kill seven Nigerian soldiers during an attack on a military outpost in Gajiram, northeastern Nigeria.
Suspected Boko Haram fighters indiscriminately fire into civilian homes and kill “scores” of people in Magumeri, a town in northeastern Borno State.
The Nigerian government releases six Boko Haram prisoners in exchange for 82 of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in 2014.
Boko Haram militants attack the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri with explosives and gunfire, forcing civilians to flee as Nigerian military forces repel the extremists.
Boko Haram militants ambush an oil exploration team belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in northeast Nigeria.
A female suicide bomber kills 27 people at a market in northeast Nigeria.
A teenage suicide bomber kills over 50 people at a mosque in northeast Nigeria during morning prayers.
Suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers kill 13 people and injure 53 others in a market in Borno State.
Three female suicide bombers kill at least 20 and wound 22 others at a fish market in Maiduguri, Nigeria. There are no immediate claims of responsibility.
Boko Haram militants kidnap 110 schoolgirls from a boarding school in Dapchi, Yobe State.
Two suicide bombings at a mosque and a market kill a total of 86 people in Mubi, a town located in northeastern Nigeria.
Twin bomb blasts follow an Eid celebration at a mosque in Damboa, Borno State.
A suicide bomber detonates explosives in a mosque in the remote village of Konduga, Borno State.
Boko Haram insurgents in three vehicles attack the Mairari village.
Boko Haram overruns a key crossroads and military outpost in Gudumbali, a town the Nigerian government previously claimed as safe for the return of thousands of displaced people.
Boko Haram militants kill a Red Cross worker who was abducted alongside two other healthcare workers earlier in the year in Borno State.
Boko Haram militants overrun an army base in Metele.
Boko Haram militants kill eight soldiers in a gun attack in Buni Gari and injure five militia members in a suicide bomb attack in Maiduguri.
Boko Haram extremists ambush security forces in Damaturu, killing 14 military and police personnel.
Extremists seize Baga, a Nigerian town and a key base for a multinational task force fighting Boko Haram.
Boko Haram burns down hundreds of structures in the town of Rann.
Members of Boko Haram attacks a military base in Buni Yadi.
Three Boko Haram extremists attack a mosque in the Jere local government area.
A farmer’s vehicle strikes a landmine buried by Boko Haram militants in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least five and wounding dozens more.
Suspected Boko Haram militants ambush a military and civilian convoy in Nigeria’s northeast.
Twin suicide bombings in Maiduguri kill three and injure more than 30.
Extremists attack a village in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 25.
Three suicide bombers detonate explosives at a cinema hall in Konduga, Borno State.
Boko Haram attacks a military base in Gajiram, killing 25 soldiers.
Boko Haram militants kill at least 65 and injure another 11 following a funeral in the Nganzai area.
Boko Haram militants ambush a military base in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria.
ISIS militants attack an army barrack in Gubio, northeastern Nigeria.
Gunmen kidnap six schoolgirls and two staff members in northern Nigeria.
ISWAP militants execute four members of the French aid group Action Against Hunger.
ISIS releases a video showing militants beheading 10 Christian men in Nigeria.
On January 2, Boko Haram militants kidnap Reverand Lawan Andimi, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Adamawa State.
A bomb detonates on the El Beid Bridge on Nigeria’s border with Cameroon.
Heavily armed militants carry out a bombing at an aid facility in Borno State.
Suspected Boko Haram or ISWAP militants set several trucks carrying passengers on fire in Auno, Borno State.
An armed group ambushes two villages in Katsina, northwestern Nigeria.
Suspected Boko Haram militants ambush a military base in Damboa, Borno State.
Boko Haram militants ambush an army convoy near Mayanti, Borno State, on the border of Cameroon.
Boko Haram extremists ambush Goneri village in Yobe state, Nigeria.
On April 2, Chad’s army, in coordination with the militaries of Nigeria and Niger, launches Operation Boma’s Wrath.
Nigerian, Nigerien, and Chadian troops, under the Multi-National Joint Task Force, bomb a camp in the Tumbun Fulani area in Borno State that is a hideout for Boko Haram and ISWAP forces.
Armed bandits coordinate attacks on farming villages in Katsina state, northern Nigeria.
According to Nigerian Defense Ministry spokesman, John Enenche, Nigerian troops rescue over 241 hostages from Boko Haram in Gamboru, Borno State.
Suspected Boko Haram militants shoot and kill a Christian pastor and his wife in Taraba, Northeastern Nigeria.
Suspected Boko Haram militants carry out an attack in Foduma Kolomaiya village, Borno State.
ISWAP militants launch twin attacks in Monguno and Nganzai.
Suspected Boko Haram militants ambush a civilian convoy of more than 100 vehicles in Komala Village, Borno state.
ISWAP militants ambush a military convoy in Bulabulin village, northeast Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants kill five hostages, four of which were aid workers who were abducted between Monguno town and Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, a month earlier.
ISWAP militants overrun the town of Kukawa in northeastern Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants ambush the town of Gwoza in Borno State.
Boko Haram militants attack three separate villages in northeast Nigeria on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
ISWAP militants carry out two attacks in the Lake Chad area of Borno State.
Suspected Boko Haram militants launch an attack in Damboa, Borno State.
ISWAP militants ambush the convoy of Borno governor Babagana Umara Zulum near the town of Baga on the shores of Lake Chad.
Armed bandits attack the Tsauwa and Gundu villages in Katsina State, northern Nigeria.
Bandits ambush the Shau and Ruwan-Gaudiya villages in Kastina State, northern Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants ambush a village in Chibok, northeast Nigeria.
Assailants ambush agricultural laborers in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria.
On December 11, hundreds of gunmen opened fire and surrounded a school in Kankara, northwest Nigeria, abducting over 300 schoolboys in the process.
Boko Haram assailants launch a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in Borno State.
Boko Haram militants ambush the majority-Christian village of Pemi, Borno State.
Boko Haram militants ambush loggers in Wulgo forest, northeastern Nigeria.
A vehicle belonging to Nigerian soldiers hits a landmine planted by Boko Haram in Logomani village, near Cameroon.
Seven hunters recruited to help the Nigerian military fight Islamist insurgents hit a landmine planted by Boko Haram in Kayamla, outside of Maiduguri.
Unidentified attackers ambush a boarding school in Niger, north-central Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants ambush Nigerian soldiers in Marte, Borno State.
Suspected Boko Haram militants launch rocket-propelled grenades in Maiduguri, northeastern Nigeria.
Unidentified gunmen ambush the Jangebe Government Girls’ Secondary School in Zamfara, northwest Nigeria.
ISWAP militants ambush Dikwa, Borno State.
ISWAP fighters ambush a Nigerian military convoy in Borno State.
ISWAP militants ambush Monguno, northeast Nigeria.
Boko Haram militants ambush Nigerian troops in Wulgo, northeastern Nigeria.
Domestic Counter-Extremism
Legislation
States of Emergency
Boko Haram Committee
Counterterrorism Measures under President Buhari
National Action Plan
Counterterrorism Operations and Non-State Actors
International Counter-Extremism
U.S.-Nigerian Cooperation
U.K.-Nigerian Cooperation
Regional Cooperation
Public Opinion
Daily Dose
Fact:
CEP on Twitter

Content: Yusuf opened the Ibn Taymiyyah Masjid mosque in Maiduguri and developed a significant following among disaffected youth in the area. Many of these followers went on to become Boko Haram militants. ( Sources: Brookings, Al Jazeera, Oxford Research Encyclopedias, BBC News)
In 2009, Yusuf was killed by Nigerian security forces and Abubakar Shekau became the leader of Boko Haram. Under Shekau’s leadership, Boko Haram has grown more militant and has developed a reputation for mass violence. In addition to targeting Christians, who represent approximately 50 percent of the Nigerian population, Boko Haram routinely targets Muslim civilians outside of the organization (who are, by virtue of that fact, considered infidels). Boko Haram’s ideology and tactics have alienated Nigerians making it hard for Boko Haram to recruit new members. As a result, the group has resorted to the conscription of thousands of boys and girls, many of who are trained in boot camps in northeast Nigerian and neighboring Cameroon. ( Sources: Combating Terrorism Center, Brookings, Pew Research Center, Institute for Security Studies, Al Jazeera, Strategic Studies Institute, Wall Street Journal)
In 2012, a number of Boko Haram members who opposed Shekau’s willingness to target Muslim civilians defected to form a splinter group called Ansaru.