Nigeria’s security woes are still far from over as Boko Haram, one of the terrorist groups operating in northern Nigeria, killed 5,873 between December 2020 and May 2023.

According to SBM Intelligence, a leading geopolitical intelligence platform, the Islamic State faction managed to kill 5,873 individuals in 430 incidents in about 30 months.

“Nigeria’s longest-running insurgency entered its 13th year at the start of 2023. Over the past two years, the military has made significant strides against Boko Haram, buoyed by the suicide of longtime terrorist leader Abubakar Shekau during a falling out with another faction, and programmes such as Operations Safe Corridor and Sulhu. However, the Islamic State-backed faction’s expansion into the country’s North-Central and North-West indicates that the work is still unfinished,” SBM Intelligence said on Friday.

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The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) overshadowed Boko Haram in terrorist operations recently, and this makes the number of Boko Haram victims in the last two years worthy of note.

Borno was the state with the highest number of fatalities from Boko Haram attacks. Yobe, Niger and Adamawa also had hundreds of fatalities each. Taraba, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Nasarawa and Kogi states were also marked with fatal Boko Haram attacks.

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Muhammed Yusuf founded Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria in 2002. The terrorist cell operated in the shadows after Nigerian security forces killed over seven hundred members, including Yusuf, during a raid in July 2009.

Boko Haram’s reemergence in 2011 was more aggressive. It launched a successful suicide bomb attack on the UN headquarters building in Abuja on August 26, 2011. The group orchestrated more terrorist attacks and became a globally recognised threat after it abducted 276 schoolgirls from Chibok.

Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and rebranded itself as ISWAP in 2015. A faction of the original Boko Haram was active until Abubakar Shekau, its leader, killed himself in a battle against ISWAP forces in 2021.

ISWAP has since maintained dominant control in northeastern Nigeria, but other terrorist elements continue to operate in those affected states.