Militants from the al-Qaeda aligned Ansaru group attacked a Nigerian military base at Polwire (also spelled Polewire), near Birnin Gwari town in Kaduna State. The attackers, arriving in large numbers on motorcycles and armed with AK-47 rifles and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), engaged the soldiers in a fierce battle lasting approximately two hours. They overpowered the troops, killed seventeen soldiers and three civilian vigilantes, and injured twenty-three soldiers. The militants burned three armoured personnel carriers (APCs), looted weapons and armaments, and forced the surviving soldiers to flee the base.
5 Apr 2022 · Polewire, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna
Deaths
20
Injured
23
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
43
Perpetrators
Ansaru
Response
The Nigerian Army deployed aerial support and additional ground troops to secure the highway. General Lucky Irabor (then Chief of Defence Staff) visited the region shortly after to review the security architecture of the FOBs.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Collaboration between jihadist groups and local Bandits, weak rural security, porous forest terrain.
Trajectory
The Birnin Gwari attack marked a major escalation of Ansaru’s activities in Kaduna, showing their ability to strike hardened military targets.
Cycle notes
This mirrors the 2013-2014 Boko Haram raids on military barracks in the North East (e.g., Bama and Giwa Barracks). The tactics—overwhelming numbers, pre-dawn strikes, and targeting of heavy equipment—suggest that the North West crisis has fully transitioned from "communal cattle rustling" to a Jihadist Insurgency.
Pattern
Insurgency
Related — Armed Attack
Gunmen attacked Agber community in Katsina-Ala LGA, Benue State, killing one person and injuring two others.
Gunmen on motorcycles and in vans attacked Yakshari village on Saturday morning, killing 22 people—many by throat-slitting—before emptying food stores and taking all the cattle . An unspecified number of women and children were also kidnapped
Approximately two dozen Boko Haram militants arrived in cars at Kwajafa village late on Sunday evening. They pretended to be Islamic preachers and gathered residents near the mosque, claiming they were there to teach about Islam. Once a crowd had assembled, the militants opened fire with automatic weapons and handguns, killing many on the spot. They then proceeded to set fire to homes throughout the village, burning approximately half the village before departing. Survivors with gunshot wounds and burns were treated at a hospital in Biu