A new armed group called Lakurawa is attacking villages in remote corners of northwestern Nigeria and across the border in Niger, posing new threats to two countries already reeling from a protracted conflict involving several other groups, including Boko Haram.

In November, the Nigerian army acknowledged for the first time the presence of Lakurawa, and said its members were operating from its headquarters in Sokoto and Kebbi states in the country.

The attacks launched by the group resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, and at least nine suspected members became known and were declared wanted by the Nigerian army.

The northern region is one of the hottest areas of violence in Nigeria, with its states witnessing a toxic mix of armed attacks, kidnappings and violence. Banditry In recent years. The Nigerian army is also locked in a long-running battle with… Boko Haram An armed group in the northeast of the country for more than a decade.

Officials say tense relations between Nigeria and Niger, stemming from the coup in Niger in July 2023, have also affected joint military operations and given the Lakurawa group more room to expand.

Here’s what to know about the group:

Who is Lakurawa?

According to Nigerian army officials, Lakurawa fighters are believed to originally come from a troubled region financiala country in the Sahel region currently under fire from a range of transnational armed groups seeking to control territory.

groups like Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) The affiliate group ISIS in the Greater Sahara is some of the armed groups destabilizing Mali.

Officials in Nigeria say the Lakurawa members belong to Malian groups but have settled for years in communities along the Nigeria-Niger border, marrying local women and recruiting young men.

However, researchers tracing the group’s origins note that its members weren’t just getting started. Originally, Lakurawa members were shepherds who carried rifles for protection.

They formed an organized armed group after local leaders in rural communities in Godu and Tangaza, in Nigeria’s Sokoto State, called on them to help confront armed bandits who were attacking communities for money and livestock, and whom they helped push into combat. Kidnapping crisis In Nigeria.

The country’s remote communities are often ungoverned due to the inefficiency of the country’s local and state governments, allowing crime to flourish. Local leaders in Sokoto wanted Lakurawa fighters to fight bandits and protect communities.

Lakurawa members were able to expel the bandit threat between 2016 and 2017 and were paid for their work. However, members of the group soon turned against the communities as well. They fell out with a local leader who invited them and killed him.

Most Lakurawa fighters are believed to be between 18 and 50 years old and speak Fulfulde, Hausa and Arabic, according to the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. Fulfuldi are spoken primarily by the Fulani group whose members are spread throughout West Africa.

The Nigerian Army said it had identified some of the group’s leaders: Abu Khadija, Abdul Rahman (Idi), Daddy Jumba, Mohammed Abu, Usman Shehu, Abu Yusuf, Musa Walia, Ibrahim Soyaka, Pa Sulhu, and Idris Taklaxi.

What do they want?

In its November announcement, the Nigerian military said Lakurawa’s motives or ideology were unknown.

However, researchers who have spoken to communities affected by the violence say the group promotes its own version of Islam and wants to seek to establish a caliphate.

In the areas they rule, the group is believed to have imposed its own version of Islamic law.

What did they do?

Lakurawa members have attacked villages in Nigeria and Niger. They are believed to control land in several villages, where they also impose taxes on livestock.

As a tactic to attract more followers and gain local support, the group is said to be distributing money, agricultural tools, fertilizers, seeds and water pumping machines to local residents in need. Some estimates put cash compensation for new recruits at 1 million naira ($645), and about 10,000 naira ($6) for local informants.

Villagers who do not cooperate with the group’s leadership face threats and attacks. Violence linked to the city of Lakurawa left dozens dead. In one of the most recent attacks on November 9, a raid by the group on the Mira community in Nigeria’s Kebbi state left 15 people dead.

How does Nigeria respond?

Tensions between Nigeria and Niger have hampered a joint and integrated response to Akurawa and given the group some leeway.

Niger’s army seized power in July 2023, but Nigeria, the current leader of the ECOWAS regional bloc, has taken a hard line on the military, demanding that it return the country to civilian rule and release detainees. Former President Mohamed Bazoum.

Before Niger’s coup in 2023, the militaries of the two countries continued joint border patrol operations. This action is believed to have helped disperse the group in 2020.

But amid the tensions that followed the coup, joint operations between the two countries were disrupted. Authorities in Nigeria say it was around the same time that members of the group regrouped and began attacking communities again, taking advantage of a security vacuum as relations deteriorated further. Joint border patrols have since resumed.

In late 2024, Nigeria launched operations against the group. The army launched air strikes on targets believed to belong to Lakurawa members in the affected northern states, and also launched ground attacks on the group’s camps.

The Nigerian army admitted in December that it had mistakenly killed 10 civilians after an airstrike on the group’s ammunition cache in the villages of Gidan Besa and Gidan Runtua, Sokoto State, caused secondary explosions. An army spokesman said the villages served as a large gathering place for the group.

What about Niger?

The Niger government did not reveal whether it had carried out special operations targeting the group, and it is not clear what parts of Niger were affected.

In an interview with local journalists in December, military commander General Abdirahman Chiane blamed the group’s emergence on Nigeria and said Abuja and France were sponsoring the group to attack Niger.

The country, a former colony of France, has fallen out with Paris over a 2023 coup. Likewise, Mali and Burkina Faso, which are ruled by military governments, have fallen out with their former colonial leader, France.

Since then, French President Emmanuel Macron has approached Nigerian leader Bola Ahmed Tinubu, prompting the former allies to accuse Abuja of colluding with their enemy.

Chiani, in an interview in December, said that senior Nigerian officials, including President Tinubu’s security adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, were part of a plan to keep armed fighters in border communities in order to attack Niger.

“He knows about this but has remained silent,” Chiani said.

The Nigerian government denied these accusations, saying they were “in the realm of fantasy.”