Boko Haram militants, operating from the outskirts of the city, fired a series of rocket-propelled grenades into densely populated residential areas of Maiduguri. The insurgents started from Boboshe, a known Boko Haram base, crossed the defensive barrier around Maiduguri, and began the attack. The attack lasted for about an hour and a half.
23 Feb 2021 · Maiduguri, Maiduguri, Borno
Deaths
10
Injured
60
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
70
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum visited injured victims and confirmed the death toll, describing the use of RPGs as a "new trend"
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Using RPGs as poor man’s artillery to strike high-value targets (Airport/University) from a distance.
Trajectory
By 2021, Boko Haram realized that penetrating the Maiduguri trench with suicide bombers was increasingly difficult. They pivoted to Projected Fire, allowing them to inflict mass civilian casualties without committing fighters to a suicidal ground assault inside the city.
Cycle notes
Mirrored earlier attacks including 16 May 2018 – Damboa attack combining suicide bombings with RPG fire into gathered civilians, 31 October 2018 – Dalori 2 IDP camp assault involving rocket-propelled grenades and arson, 05 August 2019 – Monguno clash featuring sustained heavy weapons engagement in a populated town, 07 January 2020 – Monguno attack involving coordinated assault and destruction within the city, and 13 June 2020 – Monguno assault targeting infrastructure and civilian areas, collectively reflecting a recurring pattern in which Boko Haram increasingly employs stand-off tactics—using rocket-propelled grenades as improvised artillery to strike densely populated urban centers—thereby bypassing fortified defenses, minimizing direct confrontation, and inflicting civilian casualties while maintaining operational reach into heavily defended cities like Maiduguri.
Pattern
Rocket-Propelled Grenade Attack
Related — Armed Attack
Gunmen kill one, injure another in Bokkos, Plateau
In a coordinated overnight assault, a large group of about 30 heavily armed gunmen attacked the Divisional Police Headquarters and Area Command, as well as three commercial banks in Wukari, Taraba State. The attackers used large quantities of explosives to breach the banks’ strong rooms and also targeted the police facilities. A fierce gun battle between the police and the assailants lasted for several hours. According to police reports, three persons—a police inspector and two civilians—were killed during the exchange of fire, though other sources reported a higher casualty count of five. The attackers were repelled before they could gain access to the police armoury, and no weapons were stolen.
ISWAP fighters launched an attack on a military base in the Polo community of Maiduguri, Borno State. The terrorists engaged soldiers in a gun duel and initially overpowered the troops, forcing them to withdraw until fighter planes arrived and cleared the insurgents. Many terrorists were killed during the attack