Six people were killed in Maiduguri, Borno State, in what authorities described as an intra‑Boko Haram “house‑cleaning”. The incident occurred in Kabar Maila Ward, Shehuri North, where six persons were found slaughtered, allegedly by fellow sect members.
2 Feb 2012 · Kabar Maila Ward, Shehuri North, Maiduguri, Borno
Deaths
6
Injured
0
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
6
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
The Joint Task Force (JTF) conducted preliminary investigations, attributing the killings to internal divisions within Boko Haram. JTF personnel also defused several unexploded IEDs in the area. The military advised residents to remain vigilant.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Internal power struggles, disagreements over leadership and tactics, and sustained state pressure all combined to fracture the group from within.
Trajectory
This incident highlighted growing internal fissures within Boko Haram in early 2012, at a time when the group was facing increased pressure from a state‑of‑emergency crackdown. It followed the arrest of spokesman Abul Qaqa, which may have exacerbated factional tensions. Similar internal purges would occur in later years, notably in 2014‑2015 when ISWAP split from the Shekau‑led faction.
Cycle notes
The killings mirrored earlier episodes of intra‑sect violence during the Maitatsine uprisings of the 1980s, where loyalists of slain leaders also turned on suspected informants. They also foreshadowed the brutal power struggles that would later lead to the emergence of ISWAP as a rival to Shekau‘s group. The public display of the corpses (found “slaughtered”) was consistent with Boko Haram’s signature method of intimidating rivals and suspected collaborators.
Pattern
Internal house‑cleaning
Related — Other
Suspected Boko Haram or ISWAP insurgents raided the Gajibo IDP camp, setting fire to approximately 30 newly built houses. The houses were constructed by the Borno State government as part of a resettlement programme for returning internally displaced persons (IDPs). The attackers fired sporadically into the air before setting the structures ablaze.
A suicide bomber drove an explosives‑laden Toyota Sienna minibus through the gates of the ThisDay Newspaper office in the Jabi district of Abuja at about 11:30 am. The vehicle crashed into the building‘s loading bay and detonated, killing at least two people (including the bomber) and injuring six others. The blast blew off the roof of the printing press and shattered windows of nearby buildings.
A powerful explosion ripped through a densely populated area of shops and homes in the Oriyapata (also known as Ori-Akpata) district of Kaduna city, killing at least 8 people and wounding many others. The blast occurred at about 9:30 a.m. in a shop at No. 32 Ogbomosho Street, off Katsina Road, an area filled with spare‑parts dealers and largely populated by Christian Igbos. The explosion was so intense that it demolished the building and damaged several neighbouring structures; body parts were scattered over the scene.