Boko Haram's resurgence: Why Nigeria's military is struggling to hold the line
A resurgence of Boko Haram attacks is shaking Nigeria's northeast, as Islamic extremists have repeatedly overrun military outposts, mined roads with bombs, and raided civilian communities since the start of the year, raising fears of a possible return to peak Boko Haram-era insecurity despite the military's claims of successes.
Boko Haram, Nigeria's homegrown jihadis, took up arms in 2009 to fight Western education and impose their radical version of Islamic law. The conflict, now Africa's longest struggle with militancy, has spilled into Nigeria's northern neighbors, resulted in the death of around 35,000 civilians and the displacement of more than 2 million others, according to the United Nations.
In the latest attack late last week in the village of Gajibo in Borno state, the epicenter of the crisis, the extremists killed nine members of a local militia that supports the Nigerian military, after soldiers deserted the base when becoming aware of the insurgents' advance, according to the group's claim and local aid workers. That is in addition to roadside bombs and deadly attacks on villages in recent months.
Boko Haram has since broken into two factions.
One of the them is backed by the Islamic State group and is known as the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP. It has become notorious for targeting military positions and has overrun the military on at least 15 occasions this year, killing soldiers and stealing weapons, according to an Associated Press count, experts and security reports reviewed for this story.
On the other hand, the Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, or JAS, faction has increasingly resorted to attacking civilians and perceived collaborators, and thrives on robberies and abductions for ransom.
In May, ISWAP struck outposts in Gajibo, Buni Gari, Marte, Izge, Rann, and launched a twin assault on the Nigeria-Cameroon joint base in Wulgo and Soueram in Cameroon. Other attacks this year have hit Malam Fatori, Goniri, Sabon Gari, Wajiroko and Monguno, among others. The group often attacks at night.
Malik Samuel, senior researcher at non-profit Good Governance Africa, said that ISWAP's success is as a result of its territorial expansion following gains against rival JAS as well as a decentralized structure that has enhanced its ability to conduct "coordinated, near-simultaneous attacks across different regions,' Samuel said.
'The unpredictability of attacks under this framework illustrates ISWAP's growing strategic sophistication,' Samuel said.
External support from IS in Iraq and Syria is also a critical resource to the militants, said Samuel, who has interviewed ex-fighters. Such support is evident in ISWAP's evolving tactics, including nighttime raids, rapid assaults with light but effective weaponry, and the use of modified commercial drones to drop explosives, Samuel said.
Ali Abani, a local nonprofit worker familiar with the military operations in Borno's strategic town of Dikwa, said that the army bases are understaffed and located in remote areas, making them vulnerable to attacks.
"When these gunmen come, they just overpower the soldiers,' Abani said.
Reinforcements, either in the form of air support or nearby ground troops, are often too slow to arrive, allowing the militants enough time to strip the outposts of weapons needed to bolster their arsenal, he added, recalling a May 12 attack during which soldiers fled as they were outnumbered, leaving the extremists to cart away weaponry.
There also have been reports of former militants who continued to work as informants and logistics handlers after claiming to have repented.
At its peak in 2013 and 2014, Boko Haram gained global notoriety after kidnapping 276 Chibok schoolgirls and controlled an area the size of Belgium.
While it has lost much of that territory on the back of military campaigns, the new surge in Boko Haram attacks has raised fears about a possible return to such a gloomy past.
Borno Gov. Babagana Zulum warned recently of lost gains after raising concerns that military formations in the state are being dislodged 'almost on a daily basis without confrontation.'
Federal lawmakers continue to highlight the extremists' growing sophistication and advanced weaponry, calling on the government to bolster the capabilities of the military.
The Nigerian military didn't respond to a request for comment. Last Friday, senior commanders visited one of the troubled areas, Gamboru on the border with Cameroon, promising the deployment of more troops to combat Boko Haram.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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The Mainichi
a day ago
- The Mainichi
Russia and Ukraine hold fast to their demands ahead of a planned Putin-Trump summit
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"That is potentially a situation that gives Putin a tremendous amount of leeway as long as he can use that leverage to force the Ukrainians into a deal that they may not like and to sideline the Europeans effectively," Sam Greene of King's College London said. "The question is, will Trump sign up to that and will he actually have the leverage to force the Ukrainians and the Europeans to accept it?" Putin could accept a temporary truce to win Trump's sympathy as he seeks to achieve broader goals, Greene said. "He could accept a ceasefire so long as it's one that leaves him in control, in which there's no real deterrence against renewed aggression somewhere down the line," he said. "He understands that his only route to getting there runs via Trump." In a possible indication he thinks a ceasefire or peace deal could be close, Putin called the leaders of China, India, South Africa and several ex-Soviet nations in an apparent effort to inform these allies about prospective agreements. Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center argued Putin wouldn't budge on his goals. "However these conditions are worded, they amount to the same demand: Ukraine stops resisting, the West halts arms supplies, and Kyiv accepts Russia's terms, which effectively amount to a de facto capitulation," she posted on X. "The Russian side can frame this in a dozen different ways, creating the impression that Moscow is open to concessions and serious negotiation. It has been doing so for some time, but the core position remains unchanged: Russia wants Kyiv to surrender." She predicted Putin might agree to meet Zelenskyy but noted the Kremlin leader would only accept such a meeting "if there is a prearranged agenda and predetermined outcomes, which remains difficult to imagine." "The likely scenario is that this peace effort will fail once again," she said. "This would be a negative outcome for Ukraine, but it would not deliver Ukraine to Putin on a plate either, at least not in the way he wants it. The conflict, alternating between open warfare and periods of simmering tension, appears likely to persist for the foreseeable future." (AP)
Nikkei Asia
a day ago
- Nikkei Asia
US-China trade truce, Lam-Lee summit, Prabowo speech
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Lam will be the first foreign leader hosted by Lee since the South Korean president took office in June, and the visit comes at a time of blossoming bilateral ties. Lee's office said that more than 10,000 South Korean companies have operations in Vietnam, and the country is positioning itself to become the largest source of foreign investment in the Southeast Asian nation. TUESDAY U.S.-China trade truce ends The trade war truce between the world's two largest economies is due to expire, unless U.S. President Donald Trump extends it. The 90-day detente agreed in Geneva in May halted a cycle of tit-for-tat retaliation that had sent tariffs on each other soaring into triple digits. Negotiators met in Stockholm at the end of last month and agreed to seek an extension, but American officials said the final decision rests with Trump. The president has since said the two sides are "very close" to a deal. 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Yomiuri Shimbun
a day ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Despite Western Sanctions, Russian Bomb Factory Bought Siemens Tech via Middleman
TBILISI/HONG KONG, Aug 7 (Reuters) – As Russia sought to ratchet up military production for the war in Ukraine, a state-owned explosives manufacturer circumvented Western sanctions by purchasing equipment made by Germany's Siemens from a middleman that imports technology from China. The acquisition of the Siemens equipment needed to automate machinery at the Biysk Oleum Factory (BOZ), in southern Siberia, was made via a Russian intermediary that sources industrial technology from Chinese wholesalers and re-sellers, according to customs data and state procurement records reviewed by Reuters. The acquisition of the equipment shows how Russian military firms have been able to easily avoid Western sanctions to boost their production. U.S. President Donald Trump has given Moscow until Friday to agree a ceasefire in Ukraine or face additional sanctions. BOZ's parent company, Federal State Enterprise Ya. M. Sverdlov Plant, is already subject to U.S. and EU sanctions for assisting Russia's war effort. BOZ signed a deal in October 2022 to acquire the Siemens equipment from a Russian intermediary, Techpribor, the procurement records show. Soon before the expiry of the 140-day deadline to deliver the equipment, Techpribor received a shipment from a Chinese supplier of industrial equipment called Huizhou Funn Tek, based in Guangdong province, customs data showed. By matching Siemens product codes with customs codes, and reviewing descriptions in the documents, Reuters established that two Siemens power regulator devices supplied by Huizhou Funn Tek were identical to the models BOZ ordered. Reuters found no evidence Siemens knew its equipment was sold to the Russian explosives maker. A spokesman for the German engineering multinational said the firm strictly complies with international sanctions and demands the same from its customers, but he added that some goods could reach Russia without it knowing. Techpribor did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Questions sent to BOZ and its parent company also went unanswered. Though it's well documented that Russian defense manufacturers have sourced Western technology from China, Reuters' reporting traces the path of equipment to show how a Russian defense firm can obtain Western equipment with minimal difficulty. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the BOZ factory, in the southern Siberian city of Biysk, has been expanding. It has been building a new facility to produce another type of high explosive, called RDX, a Reuters investigation found. Acquiring automated machine tools is crucial to the Russian defense sector's drive to produce more munitions. They allow higher productivity with fewer workers, a vital consideration given the sector is experiencing a labor shortage, according to an October 2024 report by British defense think tank RUSI and the Open Source Centre, an organization that uses open data to study conflict, corruption and crime. Russia has only a limited track record of producing its own automated machine tools and defense manufacturers must often import them. Konrad Muzyka, director of the Rochan military consultancy in Poland, said the continued delivery of Western-made machinery to Russia was prolonging the war by feeding Moscow's rearmament drive. 'These high-precision components are often irreplaceable within advanced manufacturing processes, including missile production, drone assembly, and tank refurbishment,' he said. 'Without them, Russia's capacity to sustain or scale its war effort would be more time consuming, expensive and place a bigger burden on the labor market.' RUSSIAN MIDDLEMAN Tender documents on the state procurement database showed that in 2022 and 2023, the parent company of BOZ purchased three sets of Siemens industrial automation equipment, and specified they were for the plant in Biysk. The electronic devices, which carry the Siemens Simatic sub-brand, can be patched into industrial machinery, allowing it to be automated and monitored remotely. The tender documents identified the firm that won the contract to supply some of the equipment: Techpribor Company LLC, registered in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, situated between Poland and Lithuania. Reuters reviewed confidential tax service data that confirms it did business with BOZ's parent company. By examining Russian customs data, Reuters established that Techpribor, between February and November 2023, imported consignments of Siemens equipment from companies in China. Techpribor bought several shipments on the same date from Huizhou Funn Tek, which describes itself as a trader in industrial automation gear. The shipments included the two Siemens power regulators that matched the order placed by BOZ. The data reviewed by Reuters does not contain enough information to establish that the power regulators in the customs documents were the ones delivered to BOZ. The data does show though that they are the same model of Siemens gear. On its website, Huizhou Funn Tek identifies Siemens as a 'partner' company. A representative of Huizhou Funn Tek, who gave her name as Ms. Chen, said the company was able to buy directly from Siemens. 'They don't ask who the end user is,' she said. Although Huizhou Funn Tek has many Russian clients, it wouldn't ship goods to entities that might use them for military purposes, Chen said. LOOPHOLE IN SANCTIONS Later in 2023, Techpribor imported more consignments of Siemens gear from a different Chinese supplier, called New Source Automation Co., Ltd., based in Xiamen, south-eastern China. The equipment in those consignments belonged to the same product category as devices that were supplied to BOZ, but there was not enough data to make a precise match. A manager at New Source Automation, who gave his name as Ryan Wu, confirmed when contacted by Reuters that his firm supplied equipment to Techpribor. He also said his firm can source as many products from Siemens as it needs, and that Siemens doesn't ask who the end-user is. Neither Huizhou Funn Tek nor New Source Automation responded to Reuters' written requests for comment. The Siemens spokesman said it asks all its clients to comply with Western sanctions but did not respond directly to a question about whether Huizhou is a partner company. Siemens would immediately investigate any indications of contravention of sanctions and involve the appropriate authorities, he said. The supply of Siemens equipment from China to Russia highlights what European policymakers say is a major loophole helping Russia sustain its war against Ukraine. European Union and U.S. sanctions bar companies from inside those jurisdictions from supplying goods or services that could help Russia's war effort. Russian defense manufacturers have been able to avoid that by sourcing Western-made equipment from wholesalers and re-sellers in China. EU leaders have moved to close the loophole. In December 2024, the bloc for the first time imposed fully-fledged sanctions on Chinese entities for supplying components to Russian defense firms. A further 7 firms from China and Hong Kong were added to the sanctions list on July 18. The bloc's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said in February that China's export of goods was fueling Russia's war against Ukraine, and called on Beijing to stop it. Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. The Russian defense ministry did not respond to questions about what work the BOZ plant is doing for the military. China's Ministry of Commerce also did not respond to a request for comment. EXPLOSIVES FOR RUSSIAN BOMBS BOZ makes the explosives TNT and HMX, according to a marketing video the factory released. While those explosives do have civilian uses, BOZ's parent company is a defense manufacturer owned by the Russian state, and BOZ fulfills defense orders for the defense ministry, according to the website of the regional administration. The expansion at the BOZ plant was part of a wider drive by the Russian defense sector to increase its production of explosives. A shortage of the material is one of the bottlenecks holding back Russian production of artillery shells, mortar rounds and air-dropped bombs, forcing it instead to source munitions from its allies North Korea and Iran, Ukrainian intelligence officials and Western defense analysts have said.
