In a brutal escalation of violence, a daring Boko Haram attack on a military base in Borno State has left 21 soldiers dead, including a commanding officer and two senior officers. The attack, which took place on Friday, January 24, 2025, in Malam-Fatori—located in the far northern part of the state, near the Niger border—has sent shockwaves across the region.
Sources inside the military confirmed that insurgents launched a multi-pronged assault on the 149 Battalion base, using a convoy of gun trucks and heavy weaponry to overpower the troops. The attack lasted for several hours, resulting in catastrophic damage to the base’s infrastructure and the loss of several lives.
“The insurgents attacked with a well-coordinated strategy,” said a military source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “They used gun trucks to launch a full-on assault, tearing through military defenses, and burning operational vehicles and buildings. The casualties are high, and the situation is still unfolding. Some personnel are still missing.”
The commanding officer of the battalion, along with two senior officers—including the base’s medical director—were among the dead, according to the source. While the exact number of wounded soldiers remains unclear, many others sustained severe injuries, and some are still unaccounted for.
This attack comes on the heels of another deadly assault in Sabon Gari, a community in the Damboa local government area of Borno, just days earlier. Sources report that Boko Haram militants attacked a Forward Operating Base (FOB), killing several soldiers and leaving many more injured. The repeated strikes by the terrorists signal a disturbing resurgence of violence in the region, where Boko Haram and its affiliates, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), have been waging a brutal insurgency for over a decade.
The recent uptick in violence, particularly in the central and northern parts of Borno, is raising concerns about the security situation in the state, which had seen relative peace in recent months. The latest attack follows a wave of deadly assaults, including the massacre of at least 40 farmers in Kukawa local government area in late November 2024.
The military response has been swift, with Nigerian armed forces claiming to have neutralized over 70 terrorists in a series of counter-offensives across the state. However, the resilience and tactics of the insurgents continue to pose significant challenges for the Nigerian military.
“We’re taking the fight to them,” said Major General Ibrahim Yusuf, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Army in the region. “But we are aware that these attacks are part of a larger plan by Boko Haram to destabilize Borno and other parts of the northeast. We are not backing down.”
This recent spate of attacks has also highlighted the vulnerability of civilian communities in Borno, especially in areas where the military presence is limited. For many residents, the fear of terrorism is compounded by the ongoing displacement crisis, which has left hundreds of thousands of people without a safe place to call home.
As the violence continues, the Nigerian government is ramping up efforts to block Boko Haram’s sources of funding, which remain a key factor in sustaining the insurgency. The federal government recently announced an intensified crackdown on the financial networks that fund terrorist activities in the northeast, including measures to freeze assets and cut off illicit financial channels.
“The fight against terrorism is not just on the battlefield,” said a top official in the Ministry of Finance. “We must target the financial backbone of Boko Haram. This means going after individuals, groups, and businesses that are funding the insurgents. Without the money, they cannot carry out these deadly operations.”
Borno State, once a symbol of resilience in the face of insurgency, now faces a renewed wave of violence that is testing the limits of both the military and local government. After more than a decade of warfare, the civilian population is once again on edge, as the specter of Boko Haram attacks looms large.
With Boko Haram still actively terrorizing northern Nigeria and other parts of the Lake Chad Basin, the fight against terrorism is far from over. For the families of the fallen soldiers in Malam-Fatori and for the victims of the recent attacks, the battle for peace and justice continues, as the Nigerian military vows to press on in the face of adversity.
As Borno grapples with this latest wave of violence, the fate of the region remains in the hands of its military, the federal government, and its long-suffering residents.
