Nigerian military warns of new militia threat from Niger and Mali

PHOTO CAPTION: A Nigerian Navy Special Boat Service soldiers climb a ladder while close clearing boat at Flintlock in Volta, Ghana, March 3, 2023. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Mario Hernandez Lopez via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's military has warned of a new insurgent group, Lakurawas, infiltrating the country's northwest region from neighbouring Niger and Mali, its spokesperson said on Thursday.

Defense spokesperson Major-General Edward Buba said the group, an affiliate of militias operating in the Sahel region, has been active in northwest Sokoto and Kebbi states. The ideology of the group is not known.

"They began an incursion into northern parts of Sokoto and Kebbi states from the Niger and Mali axis, particularly after the coup in Niger Republic," Buba said in statement.

The influx of Lakurawas is linked to the July 2023 coup in Niger, which disrupted joint military patrols along the border between Nigeria and Niger.

While patrols have since resumed, the military remains vigilant against further infiltration, Buba said.

Nigeria has been grappling with a long-running insurgency in its northeast, primarily driven by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

But the emergence of Lakurawas highlights a growing security threat in the country's northwest, a region already prone to attacks by armed gangs and kidnappings for ransom.

Buba reported that the military had killed 163 insurgents, arrested 82, and rescued at least 80 kidnapped individuals in the northwest region last month.



(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Editing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and Ros Russell)