Experts warn the Northwest is shifting from banditry to full-scale terrorism
By Suleyman Ayuba and Onibiyo Segun
Four Nigerian soldiers were killed when more than 300 Lakurawa militants stormed a military post in Kebbe, a town in Sokoto State near Nigeria’s northwestern border, before attacking a hospital and market in a sweeping daylight assault that residents say lasted hours.
Witnesses told TruthNigeria the fighters arrived on motorcycles around 10 a.m. on Friday, August 14, opening fire on troops positioned on the outskirts of Kebbe. The attackers quickly overwhelmed the base.
Haruna Dauda, a trader in Kebbe County, told TruthNigeria that the fighters first targeted the military outpost located on the outskirts of the town.
“The gun battle was fierce and lasted for a long time. The soldiers fought back, but the attackers overwhelmed the position,” Dauda said.
He said four soldiers were killed during the confrontation before the attackers moved deeper into Kebbe, turning their attention to civilian targets.
The assault has been widely reported by Nigerian media as an attack by Lakurawa terrorists, a group authorities banned as a terrorist organization in January 2025.
After overrunning the military position, the fighters entered the Sabon Gari market area in Kebbe County, smashing shops and taking away goods, according to residents.
Dauda said traders’ mobile phones, food supplies and other valuables were seized as gunmen moved from stall to stall.
“The market was destroyed. They were shooting into the air while forcing people to run away,” Dauda said.
The attackers later moved toward the General Hospital in Kebbe, where residents said they damaged vehicles and terrorized patients.
Bukar Musa, a resident of Kebbe County, told TruthNigeria that the attackers smashed windows of vehicles parked inside the hospital compound.
He said an ambulance and a vehicle belonging to the Divisional Police Officer were among those damaged.
“Patients inside the wards had their phones taken from their hands at gunpoint,” Musa said.
TruthNigeria contacted Ahmed Rufai, spokesman for the Sokoto State Police Command, but he did not respond to calls or text messages before publication.
The Nigerian Army Headquarters also did not respond to inquiries regarding the deaths of the soldiers.
The attack has raised fresh questions about the growth of armed extremist groups along Nigeria’s northwestern border communities and whether Lakurawa has evolved beyond the local security threat it was initially believed to represent.
Colonel Bukar Hamisu, rtd., Former Brigade Commander, 32 Artillery Brigade, Sokoto, Ex-Commanding Officer, 248 Battalion, Operation Hadarin Daji, and Counterterrorism and Border Security Analyst, told TruthNigeria that the Kebbe assault should no longer be viewed as ordinary criminal activity.
“Look, this is no longer banditry. When 300 fighters ride in on motorcycles in broad daylight, overrun a military base in an LGA headquarters, and then go after a hospital and market, that is terrorism,” Hamisu said.
He said Lakurawa began as “the recruits” arriving from Niger and Mali but has developed into a more organized force.
“Government banned them in January 2025. But what we saw in Kebbe is a group that has grown in confidence, in numbers, and in tactics. They are moving like the groups we see in the Sahel,” Hamisu added.
Lakurawa is a Hausa pronunciation of the French phrase “les recrues,” meaning “the recruits.” Researchers have traced the group’s emergence to armed elements and radicalized fighters moving through the porous border areas between Nigeria and the Sahel.
The group initially gained local acceptance in some communities where residents viewed them as protection against cattle rustlers and violent criminals. But researchers say the group later imposed taxes, enforced extremist rules and became linked with wider militant networks.
The Nigerian government and federal courts designated Lakurawa a terrorist organization in January 2025 after concerns about its extremist connections.
Hamisu said: “Three things failed: intelligence, surveillance, and quick reaction. For 300 men to move and strike at 10 a.m., they were not hiding.”
“Kebbe is a border route I know well from my time in Sokoto. If we don’t deploy drones, community intelligence and border surveillance now, it will repeat in Gwadabawa, Illela and Tangaza,” Hamisu warned.
He added that the timing of the attack was significant because Nigeria and the United States are currently discussing deeper security cooperation.
“They are sending a message while Nigeria and the US are talking about security,” Hamisu said.
His recommendations include treating the Northwest as a terrorism theater rather than criminal violence, protecting public facilities such as hospitals, markets and police stations, improving intelligence sharing with Niger Republic and working closely with traditional rulers.
“We must cut off the local support that once welcomed these recruits,” he said.
“If we keep treating Lakurawa like cattle rustlers, we will be discussing an attack on a state capital in six months. Kebbe is the warning,” Hamisu concluded.
The name JNIM has also appeared in discussions about militant expansion across the Sahel. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) is an al-Qaeda-linked coalition formed in 2017 through the merger of several militant groups, including Ansar Dine, Al-Mourabitoun and the Macina Liberation Front.
Security analysts say the key question after Kebbe is whether Nigeria is facing a local Lakurawa evolution or a deeper connection with Sahel-based terrorist networks.
For residents of Kebbe, the immediate concern is simpler: a group large enough to defeat a military position and attack public institutions in broad daylight has demonstrated a level of confidence that demands a stronger response.
Suleyman Ayuba and Onibiyo Segun are conflict reporters for TruthNigeria.
