ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) militants attacked farmers and fishermen at Dumba, a community on the shores of Lake Chad near Baga in Kukawa LGA, Borno State. The attackers rounded up dozens of farmers and shot them dead in an execution-style killing. The farmers had reportedly strayed beyond a security corridor demarcated by the military for safe farming and fishing. Some reports indicated that the farmers had paid security levies to a Boko Haram faction to access the farmlands, but ISWAP—unaware of the arrangement—attacked them,
12 Jan 2025 · Dumba, Kukawa, Borno
Deaths
40
Total casualties
40
Perpetrators
ISWAP
Response
Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum condemned the attack and called on the Nigerian Armed Forces to track and neutralise the insurgents operating in the Lake Chad area. The state government ordered troops to track and obliterate the insurgent elements
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
The attack occurred in the Lake Chad region, where shrinking water resources and desertification have intensified competition over fertile farmland and fishing grounds. The farmers had reportedly paid security levies to one faction but were attacked by a rival faction unaware of the arrangement
Trajectory
The Dumba massacre reflects ISWAP's continued ability to conduct mass-casualty attacks on civilians in the Lake Chad region despite ongoing military operations.
Cycle notes
This attack mirrored previous ISWAP and Boko Haram massacres of farmers and fishermen in the Lake Chad region, including the November 2020 Zabarmari massacre (over 40 farmers killed) and the November 2023 Koshebe attack (11 farmers killed). The Dumba attack is notable for its scale (at least 40 killed, with estimates exceeding 100) and the subsequent ambush of the recovery team, which mirrors the 31 October 2023 Yobe State attack where mourners returning from a burial were killed by a landmine. The pattern of farmers paying "security levies" to access farmlands — only to be attacked by rival factions — reflects the fragmented nature of insurgent control in the Lake Chad basin.
Pattern
Farmers Targeting
Related — Armed Attack
In a high-intensity morality strike, two Boko Haram gunmen arrived on a motorcycle and opened fire on patrons at an outdoor beer garden in the Dandu/Wuro‑Hausa area of Yola, Adamawa State, around 9 pm on Friday. Two civilians were killed instantly; a police officer in plain clothes who was not on duty was shot in the leg. The attackers used the element of surprise to inflict maximum damage, then sped away into the night
Unidentified gunmen invaded the residence of Rev. Daniel Umaru of the Ekklesiyan Yanuwa 'a Nigeria (EYN) Evangelical Church of the Brethren Njairi in Mubi LGA, Adamawa State. They shot him and his two sons, who died instantly, and abducted his 13-year-old daughter. His wife, who witnessed the attack, was left in a coma. Rev. Umaru survived but was critically injured and hospitalized.
Armed assailants suspected to be Boko Haram stormed Gajiganna village, about 50 km from Maiduguri in Borno State. They attacked residents in the evening, killing at least eight people.