Approximately 100 Boko Haram militants, some dressed in military uniforms and arriving in trucks and motorcycles, surrounded the predominantly Christian village of Izghe in Gwoza LGA, Borno State, near the Cameroon border . The attackers rounded up the village's men in the central square and executed them by shooting or slitting their throats . They then went door-to-door, killing anyone they found hiding, and threw improvised explosive devices (IEDs) onto house roofs, burning many structures
15 Feb 2014 · Izghe, Gwoza, Borno
Deaths
111
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
111
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
The military did not intervene during the five‑hour attack, having withdrawn from the area earlier.
Displacement
15000+
Socioeconomic drivers
Boko Haram’s intent to terrorize Christian farming communities, punish resistance, and assert dominance in Gwoza axis.
Trajectory
The Izghe massacre was the deadliest single attack in a 14‑day wave of violence that swept through Borno State from 11‑24 February 2014, killing at least 500 people, displacing over 15,000 residents, and leaving more than 200 missing. It followed the 26 January 2014 massacres at Kawuri (85+ dead) and the Catholic Church in Chakawa (35+ dead) and marked a significant escalation in the scale and organisation of Boko Haram‘s operations. The military’s failure to respond, despite emergency rule, triggered widespread public anger and led Senator Ali Ndume to declare that the state of emergency was “not working”. A second raid on 22‑23 February 2014 burned the remaining structures and killed three women, demonstrating the insurgents‘ ability to re‑enter the same village with impunity.
Cycle notes
The Izghe massacre directly echoed the January 2014 Kawuri market massacre (85+ dead) and the December 2013 Bama massacre, where Boko Haram also used military uniforms to deceive civilians before executing them. However, the Izghe attack introduced a new level of tactical brutality: a sustained five‑hour siege involving 100 attackers, the rounding up and mass execution of men by throat‑slitting, the systematic door‑to‑door clearance of survivors, and the use of IEDs to burn houses. This template of “total village destruction” would be replicated throughout 2014‑2015 in Gwoza, Baga, and other Christian communities, culminating in the January 2015 Baga massacre (estimated 2,000+ dead) and the April 2014 Chibok kidnapping (276 schoolgirls abducted). The military‘s withdrawal and non‑intervention also prefigured the 2014‑2015 collapse of state authority in Borno State, which enabled the eventual declaration of the “Islamic caliphate” in Gwoza in August 2014.
Pattern
Village Massacre
Related — Armed Attack
Insurgents launched a massive, multi-directional assault on the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) headquarters located outside Baga. After fierce fighting, the base was overrun and the military abandoned their posts. The attackers then turned their weapons on the town of Baga and the neighboring fishing village of Doron Baga. Over the next four days, they engaged in a "house-by-house" purge, murdering residents, looting homes, and burning the towns almost completely to the ground, destroying over 3,700 structures.
Fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) raided a military base in the town of Buni Gari, Gujba Local Government Area, Yobe State, approximately 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the state capital Damaturu. The terrorists arrived on several trucks armed with heavy guns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), attacking the base in a fierce gun battle. They killed at least 11 soldiers, seized weapons, burned down the base, and destroyed several military vehicles and buildings. Videos of the aftermath viewed by an AFP reporter showed the charred remains of an armoured military vehicle, burning military trucks, and the decapitated body of one soldier lying on the dusty ground with its severed head beside it.
Boko Haram insurgents launched a predawn assault on a military base in Wulari village, near the town of Konduga in Borno State. The attackers, moving under the cover of darkness and using nearby cornfields to approach undetected, engaged soldiers stationed at the base in a fierce gun battle. The firefight resulted in the deaths of three soldiers, after which the insurgents were forced to withdraw.