A group of as-yet unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy in Nigeria’s southern state of Edo on Friday, killing eight security officers and kidnapping five Chinese nationals who worked for a local cement company. Meanwhile, the notorious Islamist terrorist gang Boko Haram went on a rampage in northeastern Nigeria, slaughtering dozens of civilians in a methodical door-to-door village massacre.
The Edo convoy was managed by a government-sanctioned paramilitary organization called the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC). The NSCDC is often assigned to provide security for infrastructure and construction projects. Many of those projects have been financed and worked by Chinese companies ever since Nigeria joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2018.
Chinese nationals are often targeted for kidnapping by Nigerian gangs, including both opportunistic “bandits” and Islamist insurgents. A Chinese kidnapping victim once described himself and his colleagues as a “sweet pastry” for Nigerian gangs, due to the perception that Chinese companies have a great deal of money, and will pay ransom to get their employees back.
According to a spokesperson for the NSCDC, four of the Chinese kidnapping victims were later rescued, but one remained missing. Eight NSCDC officers were killed in the ambush, and four more were injured.
Also on Friday, a horde of Boko Haram gunmen attacked the northeastern village of Darul Jamal, killing at least 60 people and burning over a dozen houses. A hundred surviving villagers were forced to flee and take refuge elsewhere.
Tragically, Darul Jamal was only recently resettled after attacks from Boko Haram forced its residents to flee a decade ago. The Nigerian military recently declared it was in control of the area so it was safe for the long-displaced villagers to return home.
Security experts said the attack was perpetrated by the Boko Haram faction called Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad, or JAS for short. A rough translation would be: “People Committed to the Prophet’s Teachings for Propagation and Jihad.”
This is the original proper name of the African jihadi group. Its better-known sobriquet of “Boko Haram,” which means, “Western teaching is forbidden,” was originally closer to a motto or slogan.
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015. The group split into two distinct factions afterward — one fanatically loyal to ISIS, the other preferring to maintain a distinct identity and keep its own leaders. The rivalry between the two factions soon became violent. Shekau was killed in 2021 during a battle with the ISIS-aligned faction, which called itself Islamic State — West Africa Province (ISWAP).
ISWAP is the larger and more powerful element of Boko Haram today. The remaining independence-minded Shekau loyalists are using the original name of the group, JAS.
There are significant differences in how the two factions operate. One is that JAS likes to attack soft civilian targets and conduct door-to-door village massacres like the one on Friday, while ISWAP prefers to attack Nigerian military bases and infrastructure. JAS is also more interested in robbery and kidnapping for ransom to finance its activities. Some of the notorious JAS village massacres are perpetrated because JAS thinks the villagers are helping its rivals, or the Nigerian government.
“When JAS attacks and kills a lot of people like they did last night in Bama, it’s usually that they suspect the victims of spying for the rival ISWAP or the military,” Institute for Security Studies researcher Taiwo Adebayo told the Associated Press (AP) on Sunday.
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