Boko Haram gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on farmers working in their fields in a drive-by shooting. The attackers rode past the farmlands and fired at the farmers. Four farmers were killed instantly, while many others fled into the bush. Some of the missing farmers later returned to the village after the attack.
4 Sept 2017 · Ngawo Fato Bulabulin village, Maiduguri, Borno
Deaths
4
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
4
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Babakura Kolo, a member of a local militia fighting Boko Haram, confirmed the attack to AFP. Militia leader Ibrahim Liman gave a similar account, noting that at least one missing farmer later returned.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Boko Haram systematically targeted farmers to disrupt food production and force dependency.
Trajectory
Unlike the mass village burnings of previous years, the group now used low-cost, high-speed motorized raids to make the daily routine of farming a lethal gamble.
Cycle notes
Mirrors earlier attacks by Boko Haram including the 13 May 2017 attack on farmers preparing their fields, the 12 August 2017 killing of tractor operators in Jere, the 19 November 2017 execution of farmers in Dimge, the 11 February 2017 Mifa community raid, and broader 2013–2016 patterns of attacks on rural livelihoods, collectively reflecting a recurring pattern of direct violence against farmers during agricultural activity, where Boko Haram uses mobile, low-cost tactics such as motorcycle drive-by shootings to kill civilians, disrupt food production, and reinforce rural insecurity.
Pattern
Drive-by shooting & Agricultural targeting
Related — Armed Attack
ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) gunmen attacked the police station in Gajiram, headquarters of Nganzai Local Government Area, Borno State. The attackers engaged the police in a gun battle, killing four officers. Some of the victims' bodies were set on fire by the attackers.
Boko Haram jihadists attacked two fishing islands in Lake Chad in a coordinated operation. The attackers first struck Duguri island, killing 12 fishermen and wounding two others who later died (bringing the Duguri toll to 14). The attackers then split into two groups; while the first group attacked Duguri, the second went to nearby Dabar Wanzam island, where they lay in wait for fishermen who fled the first attack, killing 17 there. The attackers spared one fisherman in Duguri, loading the 12 bodies of those killed into a canoe and ordering him to take them to Baga as a warning. They also instructed the spared man to "inform the troops in Baga that they were waiting for them on the islands."
In a series of coordinated pre-dawn raids, armed Fulani militants attacked at least six villages. The attackers were heavily armed with assault rifles and machetes. They shot men, women, and children indiscriminately, slit throats, and set homes ablaze. In many cases, they removed the private organs of victims.