While much of the world has been focused on the rise of the Islamic State, another proto-Islamic state has been waging a campaign of terror while dreaming of a caliphate in Nigeria. Since the public execution of Boko Haram’s founder in 2009 by Nigerian security forces, a hard-line militant, Abubakar Shekau, has led this makeshift army of Islamist fighters through years of escalating attacks on government personnel, religious leaders, young students, crowded mosques and marketplaces.
July 2010-April 2013:Rising Violence
Under Mr. Shekau, Boko Haram picks up the pace of kidnappings, suicide and car bombings, assassinations and urban assaults. Although hit-and-run guerrilla tactics are still the group’s preferred mode of attack, Boko Haram begins to operate more brazenly in the rural areas of Borno State. For those affected by the violence, concern soars about Boko Haram’s ability to mount sophisticated, large-scale operations.
Nigeria Area of detail: Source: Data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project based on news reports
May 2013-June 2014:State of Emergency
Nigeria’s president declares a state of emergency in the northeast, sending in more troops and granting them additional powers of arrest and the ability to seize “any building or structure.” Boko Haram responds with a wave of attacks, issuing an ultimatum to southern Nigerians living in the north. Hundreds of thousands flee. The United Nations calls the brutality and frequency of attacks on civilians “unprecedented.” According to data gathered from news reports by IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center, Boko Haram killed about 2,000 people during the first six months of 2014, nearly as many as during the entire previous four years. The attacks include:
In July 2013, dozens of teenage male students are killed in a raid on a school in Buni Yadi.
In August, Boko Haram fighters attack a mosque in Konduga with automatic weapons, killing more than 40 people.
In December, hundreds of militants attack an air force base and military checkpoint in Maiduguri.
In May, in a brutal attack on the border town of Gamboru Ngala, Boko Haram fires on a busy marketplace, burns down houses, and shoots people attempting to flee; hundreds are killed.
People gathered around a crater after a car bomb exploded in a busy market area near Maiduguri’s airport on March 2. Reuters
An image taken from a video released by Boko Haram on May 12 showed some of the Nigerian schoolgirls abducted in Chibok. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
July-November 2014:Terror and Territory
Changing tactics, Boko Haram begins to assault and seize larger towns and cities — some with populations of more than 250,000, roughly the size of Buffalo or Reno, Nev. The military is often unable or unwilling to stop the militants. Boko Haram extends its dominance through large portions of Borno State and reaches south into Adamawa State. By December, the group controls or contests many of the Borno towns that encircle Maiduguri, the state capital, home to more than a million people and the city where Boko Haram was founded.
Source: Data compiled by IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center based on news reports
Nov. 25: Two suicide bombers blow themselves up at a bustling market in Maiduguri, killing at least 45.
Nov. 28: A bomb goes off at a central mosque in Kano, northern Nigeria’s largest city, killing 120 people.
Dec. 1: Boko Haram fighters stage a pre-dawn raid on government, police and military buildings in Damaturu. In a repeat of the Nov. 25 attack, two female suicide bombers again detonate bombs at the central Maiduguri market, killing dozens.
January 2015: Boko Haram militants storm through a cluster of villages along the shores of Lake Chad, burning, damaging or destroying thousands of buildings, according to human rights groups. More than half of one town, Doro Gowon, the location of a now-destroyed military base, appears to have been leveled, Humans Rights Watch said.
People inspected the site of a bomb explosion on Nov. 29 in Kano, Nigeria.Muhammed Giginyu/Associated Press
