Lakurawa, the new armed group wreaking havoc on the Nigerian-Nigerian border | News about armed groups

A new armed group called Lakurawa is attacking villages in remote corners of northwestern Nigeria and across the border in Niger, posing new threats to two countries already suffering from a long-running conflict involving several other groups, including Boko Haram.

In November, the Nigerian military acknowledged the existence of Lakurawa for the first time and said its members operate from headquarters in Sokoto and Kebbi states.

Dozens of people were killed in the group’s attacks, and at least nine suspected members are known and the Nigerian army has declared a manhunt for them.

The northern region is one of Nigeria’s most violent hotspots, with its states experiencing a toxic mix of armed attacks, kidnappings and banditry in recent years. The Nigerian Army is also fighting a protracted battle with Boko Haram armed group in the northeast for more than a decade.

Strained relations between Nigeria and Niger, stemming from a July 2023 coup in Niger, have also affected joint military operations and given the Lakurawa group more room to expand, officials say.

Here’s what you need to know about the group:

Who is Lakurawa?

According to Nigerian military officials, the Lakurawa fighters are believed to originate from troubled countries Smalla Sahelian country that is currently under fire from a swarm of transnational armed groups seeking territory to govern.

Groups like Jamat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and ISIL’s branch in the Greater Sahara are some of the armed groups destabilizing Mali.

Officials in Nigeria say Lakurawa members are linked to Malian groups, but over the years have settled in communities along the Nigeria-Niger border, marrying local women and recruiting youths.

Researchers tracing the origins of the group, however, note that its members did not just start acting. Originally, Lakurawa members were shepherds who carried guns for protection.

They formed an organized armed group after being invited by local leaders in the rural communities of Gudu and Tangaza, in Nigeria’s Sokoto state, to help deal with armed bandits who were then raiding the communities for money and livestock, and who helped quickly kidnapping crisis in Nigeria.

Remote communities in the country are often not managed due to the inadequacy of local and state governments in the country, allowing crime to flourish. Local leaders in Sokoto wanted Lakurawa fighters to fight bandits and protect the community.

Lakurawa members managed to eliminate the bandit threat between 2016 and 2017 and were paid for their work. However, the members of the group soon turned to the communities. They quarreled with one of the local leaders who invited them and killed him.

Most of the Lakurawa fighters are believed to be between 18 and 50 years old and speak Fulfulde, Hausa and Arabic, according to the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs think tank. Fulfulde is primarily spoken by the Fulani group whose members are spread across West Africa.

The Nigerian military said it has identified some of the group’s leaders as Abu Khadijah, Abdulrahaman (Idi), Dadi Gumba, Muhammed Abu, Usman Shehu, Abu Yusuf, Musa Walia, Ibrahim Suyaka, Ba Sulhu and Idris Taklakse.

What do they want?

In its announcement in November, the Nigerian military said Lakurawa’s motivation or ideology were unknown.

However, researchers who have spoken to communities affected by the violence say the group promotes its own version of Islam and wants to claim a caliphate.

In the areas they rule, the group is believed to have imposed its own version of Islamic law.

What did they do?

Members of Lakurawa attack villages in Nigeria and Niger. They are believed to hold territory in several villages, where they also levy taxes on livestock.

As a tactic to attract more followers and gain local support, the group reportedly distributes money, farming tools, fertilizer, seeds and water pumping machines to poor locals. According to some estimates, the monetary compensation for new recruits is 1 million naira ($645), and around 10,000 naira ($6) for local informants.

Villagers who do not cooperate with the group’s leadership face threats and attacks. Lakuraw-related violence has left dozens dead. In one of the latest attacks on November 9, the group’s attack on the Mera community in Nigeria’s Kebbi state left 15 people dead.

How is Nigeria responding?

Tensions between Nigeria and Niger prevented a joint and integrated response to Lakurawa and gave the group little space.

Niger’s military took power in July 2023, but Nigeria, the current head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc, has taken a hard line against the military, demanding that it return the country to civilian rule and release the detained former president Mohamed Bazoum.

Prior to the 2023 coup in Niger, the militaries of both countries maintained joint border patrol operations. That action is believed to have helped disperse the 2020 group.

However, amid the tensions that followed the coup, joint operations between the two countries were suspended. Authorities in Nigeria say this was around the same time members of the group regrouped and began attacking communities again, taking advantage of the security vacuum as relations further soured. Joint border patrols have continued since then.

In late 2024, Nigeria launched operations against the group. The military has carried out airstrikes on targets believed to be Lakurawa members in the affected northern states and ground attacks on the group’s camps.

The Nigerian military admitted in December that it mistakenly killed 10 civilians after an airstrike on the group’s ammunition cache in the villages of Gidan Bisa and Gidan Runtuwa, Sokoto state, caused secondary explosions. The villages were a major concentration for the group, an army spokesman said.

What about Niger?

Niger’s government has not disclosed whether it has conducted special operations targeting the group, and it is unclear which parts of Niger have been affected.

In an interview with local reporters in December, military chief General Abdourahamane Tchiani blamed Nigeria for the group’s emergence and said Abuja and France sponsored the group to attack Niger.

The country, a former French colony, has fallen out with Paris over a coup in 2023. Similarly, Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by military governments, have fallen out with their former colonial leader, France.

Since then, French President Emmanuel Macron has grown closer to Nigerian leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu, leading the former allies to accuse Abuja of colluding with their enemy.

Tchianni said in an interview in December that top Nigerian officials, including President Tinubu’s security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, were part of a plan to keep armed fighters in border communities to attack Niger.

“He knows about this, but he kept quiet,” Tchiani said.

The Nigerian government dismissed the allegations, saying they were “in the realm of imagination”.