Country Report on Terrorism 2024 - Chapter 4 - Boko Haram (BH)

Boko Haram

Aka:  Nigerian Taliban; Jama’atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda’Awati Wal Jihad; Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad; People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Propagation and Jihad; Sunni Group for Preaching and Jihad.

Description:  BH was designated as an FTO on November 14, 2013.  The Nigeria-based group was responsible for numerous attacks in the northern and northeastern regions of the country, as well as in the Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, that had killed thousands of people since 2009.

BH had been intermittently aligned with al-Qa’ida and, in 2015, BH pledged allegiance to ISIS in an audiotaped message.  ISIS accepted the pledge, and BH began calling itself ISIS-WA.  In 2016, ISIS announced that Abu Musab al-Barnawi was to replace Abubakar Shekau as the new leader of the group.  Infighting then split BH.  Shekau maintained a group of followers and affiliates concentrated primarily in the Sambisa Forest; this faction became known as BH, while al-Barnawi’s group separated and was designated as ISIS-WA.  On May 19, 2021, ISIS-WA reportedly killed Shekau during a clash.

Activities:  BH crossed porous Lake Chad-region borders to target civilians and military personnel in northeastern Nigeria, the Far North Region of Cameroon, and parts of Chad and Niger.  The group continued to evade pressure from Lake Chad country forces, including through the regional Multinational Joint Task Force.

In May 2024, suspected BH militants killed 10 people and abducted 160 others, including children, during a raid on a remote village in north-central Nigeria.  The group also reportedly killed at least 18 people and injured dozens of others in a series of suicide bombings in northeastern Nigeria, including at a wedding and a funeral in June.  In September, suspected BH militants killed more than 100 people in an ambush on a village in northeastern Nigeria’s Yobe State.  The organization continued to clash with ISIS-WA in the Lake Chad and Sambisa Forest areas.

Strength:  BH was estimated to have up to 2,000 fighters.

Location/Area of Operation:  Primarily Nigeria, but also Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.

Funding and External Aid:  BH largely self-financed through criminal activities such as looting, extortion, kidnapping for ransom, and bank robberies.

Associated documents