A tricycle taxi, commonly known as a "Keke NAPEP," accidentally ran over an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) that had been buried by the side of the road. Military investigations revealed that the device had likely been buried long ago and remained undetected until it was triggered. The explosion occurred instantly and resulted in the deaths of four individuals: a woman, her baby, and two adult men. Three other people, including a soldier, sustained injuries and were promptly evacuated to Biu General Hospital. The army later confirmed that the injured soldier had died at the hospital. The area surrounding the incident was cordoned off, and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team was deployed to conduct a thorough search of the vicinity.
29 May 2016 · Biu, Biu, Borno
Deaths
5
Injured
2
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
7
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Col. Sani Kukasheka Usman, Acting Director of Army Public Relations, released an official statement detailing the incident and the response
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Denying the "freedom of movement" in liberated zones and using low-cost, high-persistence weapons to inflict casualties without active engagement.
Trajectory
Highlighted the shift from "active raids" to "passive lethality"—where the group’s past territorial control left a lethal "residue" that continued to kill long after the militants withdrew.
Cycle notes
This event mirrors previous roadside bomb and IED attacks carried out by Boko Haram, including the convoy mine incident in Borno on April 21, 2015, and the patrol bombing in Potiskum on October 21, 2012. It highlights a persistent tactic of planting explosives along transit routes, which are then triggered by unsuspecting movement. This approach echoes the booby-trapping techniques seen during militant retreats in the 1980s during the Maitatsine period, as well as the mine campaigns along the Biu-Damboa road in 2014. Additionally, it foreshadows the 2023-2025 reliance of ISWAP on sustained mine warfare. Overall, this reflects a continuous pattern of indiscriminate IED threats that persist even beyond active combat zones.
Pattern
IED Explosion
Related — Bombing/IED
Two female suicide bombers detonated at the University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development and the Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme, killing only themselves
Ten members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) were on a routine patrol in their vehicle along a bush path between Mafa and Konduga. The vehicle drove over an IED suspected to have been planted by Boko Haram terrorists. The explosion killed two members instantly and injured the remaining eight.
At approximately 9:49 pm, three suicide bombers — a male and two females — attempted to infiltrate the Usmanti Community in Mafa Local Government Area via the Simari area. They were sighted by vigilant members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), who quickly alerted joint security personnel deployed in the area. As the bombers were chased, a stampede ensued. In the resulting chaos and in an attempt to escape arrest, the three bombers hurriedly detonated the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) strapped to their bodies, killing themselves instantly. Two members of the CJTF sustained injuries from the blast and were rushed to the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital for treatment. An eyewitness reported that soldiers first shot the male bomber, causing his IED to detonate; the powerful blast then triggered the explosives strapped to the two female bombers, killing all three.