Boko Haram insurgents attacked two 330KVA power transmission towers in Kasaisa, Damaturu. The attackers used improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to blow up the towers, which were part of the Gombe–Damaturu–Maiduguri transmission line. The destruction cut off electricity supply from Gombe to Yobe and Borno states, plunging residents of both states into darkness.
24 Feb 2024 · Kasaisa, Damaturu, Yobe
Deaths
0
Injured
0
Kidnapped
0
Total casualties
0
Perpetrators
Boko Haram
Response
Yobe State Police Command confirmed the attack. Police Public Relations Officer DSP Dungus Abdulkarim announced the development in a statement on Saturday, 24 February 2024. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) was notified, and efforts to repair the towers were initiated.
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Boko Haram targets critical infrastructure, such as electricity towers, to cripple economic activities and public services, thereby increasing hardship and eroding public confidence in the government's ability to provide basic services. By using IEDs on remote infrastructure, the insurgents can inflict widespread damage with minimal risk, bypassing heavily guarded urban centers.
Trajectory
The attack was the second in three months on the same infrastructure. Three towers (T193, T194, T195) were previously destroyed on 28 December 2023, also using IEDs. Those towers were repaired by TCN in January 2024. The February attack occurred just weeks after the restoration, demonstrating the group's persistent focus on the energy grid and the vulnerability of critical infrastructure in the region.
Cycle notes
Mirrored earlier attacks including 27 August 2019 – Wajirko attack on telecom workers laying fiber optic cables, 13 June 2020 – Monguno assault involving the burning of a UN humanitarian hub and public infrastructure, 02 July 2020 – Damasak attack targeting a UN helicopter to disrupt aid logistics, 28 December 2023 – Kasaisa transmission towers destroyed along the same power line, and broader attacks on roads, telecoms, and energy assets across the Lake Chad basin, collectively reflecting a recurring pattern in which Boko Haram deliberately targets critical infrastructure—electricity grids, telecommunications, and humanitarian logistics—to cripple essential services, isolate communities, and undermine state legitimacy by demonstrating the government’s inability to protect key economic lifelines in northeastern Nigeria.
Pattern
IED Explosion
Related — Insurgency
Insurgents from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, attacked Takulashi Shikarkir ward in Chibok LGA. The insurgents invaded the town in the evening, shooting sporadically, forcing hundreds of residents to flee into the forests for safety.
A five-day coordinated uprising by Boko Haram across four northern states – Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, and Kano – marking the group‘s first major armed rebellion against the Nigerian state. The uprising began on 26 July when about 70 sect members armed with grenades and small arms attacked a police station in Bauchi. The violence rapidly spread to Potiskum (Yobe), Wudil and Danja (Kano), and Maiduguri (Borno), where hundreds of sect members engaged security forces in fierce street battles. Sect leader Mohammed Yusuf, who had publicly vowed to “fight to the death” and declared that democracy and Western education must be destroyed, was captured on 30 July and summarily executed in police custody. The uprising ended with a scorched‑earth military counter‑offensive that left an estimated 1,000 people dead, including about 700 in Maiduguri alone, with many victims shot extrajudicially by security forces in public.
A major confrontation erupted between Boko Haram insurgents and Nigerian security forces in the Pompomari (Pompari) district of Damaturu, Yobe State. The insurgents, who had been gathering in the area for several days, launched a coordinated assault using heavy weaponry and multiple improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Unlike previous “hit-and-run” tactics, this was a sustained pitched battle that lasted over 30 hours and devastated residential areas. Boko Haram fighters advanced from their stronghold in the suburb, engaging soldiers and police in fierce gunfights, setting buildings ablaze, and laying siege to the area. The violence prompted the state government to declare a dusk-to-dawn curfew.