Boko Haram Intensifies Violence with Highway Raids

Along the Maiduguri –Damaturu highway in Northern Nigeria, Boko Haram militants have been intensifying their presence and attacks. The highway, which links the respective capitals of Borno and Yobe states, has been blocked by Nigerian security officials after a Boko Haram attack left 15 dead. This is the fourth such attack carried out by Boko Haram along the major transportation route in the past week.

On Monday, Aderemi Opadokun, the Borno state police commissioner confirmed a Boko Haram attack in the villages of Kalwa and Gwollam that killed 43 villagers last weekend. The insurgents raided the villages, opened fire on the residents, and slit the throats of villagers who surrendered. The villages are just a few in a  long list of recent targets in the Borno area known as Monguno that have seen daily attacks by Boko Haram militants since they seized Nigerian military barracks in the area on January 28.

As twilight approached Northern Nigeria on Monday, Boko Haram raided the Mainok village, which is just outside Maiduguri. Hundreds of militants reportedly spent hours slaughtering villagers, destroying vehicles and burning homes. This was the third attack in Mainok by Boko Haram, and officials are still trying to locate missing teenagers.

Tuesday evening, Boko Haram carried out three consecutive attacks in Maiduguri, killing 30 people. The militants first set up a barricade on the Maiduguri–Damaturu highway, killing 20 motorists as they travelled on the highway. The militants then returned to the Warsala village, and burned the half of the village that was salvaged when they raided the village last week. At the same time, Boko Haram militants also attacked the village of Damasak. The militants recklessly opened fire on villagers, killing more than a dozen and injuring many others.

This surge in violence along the Maiduguri – Damaturu highway can be associated with an overall surge in Boko Haram attacks over the past few weeks. Boko Haram recently announced they are willing to release the Chibok schoolgirls, who were infamously kidnapped in April 2014, in return for the release of imprisoned Boko Haram leaders. The recent surge of violence since the end of May may be part of Boko Haram’s effort to increase leverage on the Nigerian government to heed their demands.

With that said however, the nature of the recent attacks can be ascribed to Boko Haram shifting its tactics after 10 of their camps were destroyed in the Sambisa Forest by the anti-Boko Haram African coalition. The coalition’s success in the forest forced jihadists to disperse and retreat to their former guerrilla warfare operations. As previously stated by the Center For Security Policy, new challenges for the Nigerian military would arise out of the apparent “victory” in the mountains. Boko Haram was forced to transform their approach, and the Nigerian military is now once again faced with attempting to develop methods of defeating Boko Haram’s ever-changing tactics.