Boko Haram fighters in six trucks attacked the villages of Shafa, Azare, Sabon‑Kasuwa, Debro and Tashan Alade in Hawul LGA, Borno State, going from one village to the next. They burnt down at least five churches (including EYN churches), a police station, schools, shops and hundreds of houses. The insurgents looted thousands of bags of farm produce, emptied market stalls and stole vehicles. In Azare, they killed two police officers, a civil defence member and a vigilante. When residents fled into the bush, the insurgents chased them and opened fire. A search party later recovered five bodies with gunshot wounds from the bush, together with six women who had gunshot injuries – all hit while trying to escape.
27 Dec 2020 · Shafa, Azare, Tashan Alade, Sabon-Kasuwa, Debro, Hawul, Borno
Deaths
10
Injured
10
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
20
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Governor Babagana Zulum cut short his trip from Abuja and visited the affected communities by military helicopter on Sunday, December 27. He ordered the immediate reconstruction of the police station and market stalls . In Shafa, he ordered the provision of six patrol vehicles and other components to strengthen local security; in Yamirshika, he directed the provision of surveillance vehicles to hunters and vigilantes.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Boko Haram’s expansion of raids into southern Borno communities perceived as government-aligned to spread fear and punish collaboration.
Trajectory
The attack on Hawul LGA was the culmination of a three‑day wave of violence that began with the ISWAP attack on Garkida, Adamawa, on 24 December. It marked a significant shift toward economic strangulation as a primary insurgent goal: not just killing civilians, but systematically looting their harvests and shops to destroy their means of survival. The assault forced hundreds of families to flee to the mountains, where many remained for days without shelter. The government’s response—reconstruction of a police station and provision of patrol vehicles—was an attempt to rebuild confidence, but the insurgents had already demonstrated that local security forces could not protect the villages.
Cycle notes
Mirrored earlier attacks including 13 June 2020 – coordinated multi‑village raids across Goni Usmanti, Mainmari, and Mariram; 31 October 2018 – Bulaburin/Kofa/Dalori attacks combining village raids with an IDP camp assault; 24 August 2019 – Gajiram raid involving killings, looting, and abductions; 4 February 2018 – Alau‑Kofa raid featuring arson and destruction of food supplies; and 27 July 2019 – Badu Kuluwu mass killing following a coordinated village attack, collectively reflecting a recurring pattern in which Boko Haram conducts sweeping, multi‑village raids—moving from settlement to settlement to burn infrastructure, loot food supplies, and target security‑linked individuals—thereby expanding its operational footprint, punishing perceived collaborators, and sustaining its logistics through systematic rural devastation in northeastern Nigeria.
Pattern
Village raid
Related — Armed Attack
A large convoy of suspected Boko Haram militants armed with heavy machine guns, rocket launchers and homemade bombs launched a coordinated assault on the Police Area Command headquarters and two new‑generation banks in Azare, Bauchi State. The assailants bombed the police buildings, setting them ablaze, and then broke into the banks, emptying their safes and making off with the money. The attackers also hung a black banner reading “Allahu Akbar” at the entrance to the police station. The attack lasted about four hours.
A bomb explosion rocked the administrative block of Gombe State University, located along the Gombe–Bauchi road. The attackers, armed with explosives and guns, forced their way through the main gate after firing shots to scare away security guards. At the same time, another group reportedly entered through a valley at the back of the university. They detonated improvised explosive devices that ravaged the Senate building, burned down the Vice Chancellor‘s office and the Bursary, and blew open the roof. The assailants also fired incessant gunshots for about 30 minutes to keep students and staff at bay before fleeing. The attack occurred after staff had closed for the day, and the Vice Chancellor confirmed there were no casualties.
Boko Haram jihadists launched a raid on the IDP camp. The attackers entered on bicycles and on foot, using ladders to scale a protective ditch dug around the camp perimeter. They opened fire, killing four IDPs and injuring four others. The gunshots drew the attention of soldiers and police stationed outside the camp, who engaged the militants in an hour-long gun battle. Two terrorists were killed in the firefight, while the rest fled. The attackers were believed to have come to steal food supplies . Hours later, two soldiers were wounded when their patrol vehicle struck a landmine planted by the fleeing jihadists at Freetown village, nine kilometers (five miles) away