Boko Haram fighters arrived on foot late Friday evening, having left their vehicles at a distance to avoid detection. They stormed the village, slit the throats of four male residents, abducted two others, and looted food supplies before withdrawing after about an hour.
30 Aug 2019 · Balumri, Jere, Borno
Deaths
4
Injured
0
Kidnapped
2
Total casualties
4
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Bura Abdiye, a Balumri resident, confirmed the attack to AFP, stating: "They slit the throats of four people and took away two others," adding that the militants also looted food . Umara Kyari, another resident, confirmed the account and noted that residents were leaving the village for fear of renewed attack.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Boko Haram’s use of extreme violence (beheadings) to terrorise communities and punish perceived disloyalty or collaboration with the government.
Trajectory
Represented the stealth-survival phase. By late 2019, under heavy aerial surveillance, the Shekau faction returned to silent raids, leaving vehicles behind to bypass acoustic sensors and using knives rather than guns to avoid alerting nearby military outposts.
Cycle notes
Mirrored earlier Boko Haram attacks involving stealth-based village raids, including the 19 November 2017 Dimge farmers’ execution, the 1 September 2017 Banki IDP camp infiltration using knives and silent killing tactics, the 9 September 2017 Kurmiri village attack targeting civilians with machetes, the 13 May 2017 killings of farmers in their fields, and the 2013–2015 wave of rural raids involving throat-slitting and close-range executions across Borno, collectively reflecting a recurring pattern in which Boko Haram conducted low-noise, night-time incursions on foot, using bladed weapons to execute victims, abduct others, and loot supplies while avoiding detection—an adaptive tactic aimed at sustaining operations under increased military surveillance and maintaining control over vulnerable rural communities.
Pattern
Throat-slitting
Related — Armed Attack
Insurgents arrived in a convoy of trucks and motorcycles, reportedly bypassing military checkpoints. They locked the male students inside their dormitories before setting the buildings on fire with gasoline and explosives. Students who attempted to climb out of windows were shot or had their throats slit. Consistent with a specific extremist ideology at the time, the attackers reportedly spared the female students but ordered them to "get married and leave school."
Approximately 12 Boko Haram insurgents on motorcycles attacked farmers working in their fields. The attackers opened fire sporadically, killing farmers and injuring others.
Just before 7:00 pm, at the start of the nighttime curfew imposed after the 20 January “Kano Blitz”, a group of gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram militants attacked the Rijiyar Zaki police station in the Ungogo Local Government Area of Kano city. The assailants arrived on motorcycles and in an all-terrain van, opened fire on the police station for several minutes, and shouted “Allahu Akbar”. Two policemen were feared dead, lying in pools of blood. The attack was brief, lasting no more than five minutes.