Terrorists linked to the Mallam Sadiku-led faction of Boko Haram carried out a midnight attack on February 27, 2025, killing 11 artisanal miners at a gold mining site in Karaga village, located near the group’s Alawa forest reserve hideouts in Shiroro Local Government Area, Niger State.
Local and security sources confirmed that the victims were miners from Bassa, a nearby garrison town and surrounding hamlets.
Bassa, which had previously suffered multiple violent attacks by Boko Haram, was repopulated in mid-2024 after the Nigerian military established a security presence in the area.
The latest attack highlights the continued threat posed by Boko Haram factions operating in Niger State, particularly around Shiroro LGA, where remote villages and mining sites have become frequent targets of terrorist violence, disrupting livelihoods and fueling insecurity in the region.
But since October, when the terrorists suffered heavy losses in a failed attack on Bassa, they continued to target the town using guerrilla tactics such as planting IEDs and attacking nearby villages where there was no military presence.
In the October gunfight, five members of the Sadiku-led Boko Haram faction were killed, including Baba Adamu, an IED expert, some ex-members who recently defected from the group told PREMIUM TIMES.
Local and security sources who spoke to this newspaper suspected that the 27 February midnight attack was a retaliation for the terrorists’ loss during the October gunfight.
Barely two months after the gunfight, the terrorists resorted to IED attacks. In December alone, they planted at least four explosives that killed three people and injured four others.