The new terrorist group, Mahmuda, has intensified its attacks at various communities in Kwara and Niger States.
Suspected members of the new terrorist group, Mahmuda, were said to have attacked communities in Ilesha Baruba and Kemaanji, Baruten and Kaiama local government areas of Kwara State on Sunday night.
They had on Friday reportedly killed some vigilantes in the state.
The assailants, who were on military camouflage riding motorcycles, stormed a market square at 9:30 pm and opened fire on the residents before they zoomed off.
Four Fulani, a vigilante and a 19-year-old teenager, who was hit by a stray bullet reportedly lost their lives during the attack.
According to a resident of the area, the fresh incident is coming in the wake of a similar attack the same day in neighbouring Kaiama where a vigilante was killed.
Speaking yesterday on the Baruten incident, the source said: “We suspect that they came with a premeditated motive because they fired at the Fulani at close range shooting them in the head. The vigilante was holding a dane gun and they saw him as a threat. But the boy was hit by a stray bullet.
“The place is a very popular trading spot with a lot of business and commercial activities. It was a sudden attack believed to be a reprisal over alleged collaboration with the security agencies against the terrorists”, the resident said.
The new terrorist group was said to have been killing and kidnapping people at Kemaanji, Tenebo, Baabete, Nuku, and Nanu villages in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State and communities in Yashikira District of Baruten LGA, also in Kwara as well as in Babana and Wawa districts of Borgu LGA of Niger State.
Despite the successes which the federal government said it had recorded in containing the attacks, security and intelligence experts say the escalated attacks by terrorists, especially the emergence Mahmuda, indicate that the fight against terrorism should be intensified.
Some of the experts alleged that the emergence of the new terrorist group casts a doubt on the credibility of the country’s intelligence system.
Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq yesterday led a delegation that comprised top military and intelligence chiefs to visit Kaiama to assess the security concerns and reinforce inter-agency collaboration across border communities.
Speaking during the “strategic security interface” with the Emir of Kaiama, Alh Muazu Shehu Omar and other critical stakeholders, said the incident was a reprisal attack by non-state actors targeting vigilantes.
He assured the state government was working with the military and other relevant agencies to bring peace to the affected communities and dislodge the terrorists.
“What we are seeing today is the non-state actors targeting the vigilantes in a reprisal attack and this will come to pass. This is because we are working with the military who have visited the place, made contact and had robust engagement”, he said.
The governor said the state government would ensure that peace returned to the Kainji National Park axis.
But the Kwara State Police Command had, in a statement by its spokeswoman, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, denied the existence of the Mahmuda terrorist group and the reported killing of 15 vigilantes by the group.
“Our comprehensive and continuous threat assessments, intelligence surveillance and tactical reconnaissance operations in these areas have yielded no evidence of insurgent activity, coordinated terrorist formations, or mass casualty incidents as described.
“The claim of 15 vigilantes being killed is entirely false and devoid of any factual basis”, she added.
Residents of Kwara State said the Mahmuda terrorist group had been operating in the affected communities of Yashikira district of Baruten including Kemaanji, Wajibe, and Nuku among others in Kaiama for over five years.
They said the group started as a religious body, giving sermons about their form of Islam.
Locals said the group had attracted many teenagers as fighters and informants.
“Before now, we had called the attention of the authorities and security operatives to their growing influence and it was only recently that the military led a major onslaught against them which included aerial bombardments, killing many of them,” a resident, Alhaji Haruna Idirissa, said.
The Emir of Yashikira Alhaji Umaru Seriki, yesterday said his subjects were living in fear over attacks by the new terrorist group.
“The attacks are not only in Baruten and Kaiama local governments of Kwara State, but also Borgu Kingdom in Niger State.
“Last week, the terrorists destroyed the security vehicle bought by the people for operations by the vigilantes”, he said.
Nigeria is currently grappling with deadly activities of five terrorist groups: Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Lakurawa, Ansaru and Mahmuda.
Boko Haram
The Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, popularly known as Boko Haram, began in Niger State but is now domiciled in Borno after the split that produced the late Abubakar Shekau.
The Boko Haram fighters have also attacked villages in Yobe and Adamawa States. Boko Haram is said to be also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon and Mali. Since the insurgency started in 2009, the group has reportedly killed tens of thousands of people in frequent attacks against the police, armed forces and civilians.
The activities of the sect were said to have resulted in the deaths of more than 300,000 children and the displacement of 2.3 million people from their homes according to a UN report by Al Jazeera in June 2021.
The Boko Haram sect gained global notoriety when it reportedly kidnapped more than 200 school girls from Chibok village in Borno State in 2014.
Lakurawa
The Lakurawa militant group emerged within Sokoto and Kebbi states in north-western Nigeria and across the border with Niger. It initially promised to help the government tackle banditry but later became deadly with affiliations to groups in Mali and Niger.
It was recently declared a terrorist organisation by the Nigerian government and banned across the country following several attacks in local communities. It has killed several people in many North West states.
ISWAP
The Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP), is said to be an offshoot of Boko Haram with which it has a violent rivalry. Until March 2022, ISWAP had reportedly acted as an umbrella organisation for all IS factions in West Africa, including the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS) which gave it access to resources and technical assistance.
It recently deployed four armed drones carrying locally made grenades in an attack on the Forward Operating Base in the Wajikoro area of Borno, reportedly leaving about five soldiers injured.
ISWAP’s fighters’ use of weaponised drones marked a significant shift in the group’s tactics.
The military had reportedly thwarted plans to establish bases in Plateau and Bauchi States from its base in the North East just like Boko Haram.
ANSARU
Ansaru is observed to be active in the North-West and the North-Central where bandits and kidnappers also operate.
It is reported to be a former faction of Boko Haram that rejected Shekau leadership after the death of Yusuf.
The group announced in 2012 that it had pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and was independent.
Despite this, Ansaru and other Boko Haram factions continued to work closely together until the former increasingly declined and stopped its insurgent activities in 2013.
Unlike Boko Haram, which is largely based in Borno State in the North East, Ansaru operated in and around Kano State and some parts of North Central and its environs.
It claimed responsibility for a prison break at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad headquarters in Abuja in November 2012 among several other kidnapping activities that involved foreigners.
MAHMUDA
Mahmuda was said to have migrated from Mokwa in Niger State and had visibly occupied the Kainji Lake National Park over five years ago when they raided the park and chased out the Range Guards.
Some reports have claimed that the Mahmuda group is another breakaway faction of the Shekau-led Boko Haram but with “moderate” ideology and connection to other groups in Benin/Niger Republic.
They referred to themselves as the Mahmuda Group or Mallam Group, their leader’s name.
