US and Nigeria attacks: Living in fear of Lakulawa

Deep fear has long reigned in the arid savannah and highlands of northwest Nigeria — even before U.S. airstrikes launched on Christmas Eve against Islamist militants based in the area.

The heavily armed jihadists, wearing camouflage uniforms and brightly colored turbans, have been living in the Tangasa camp for years. Tangasa is a remote area in Sokoto state near the border with Niger.

They belong to a group called Lakurawa, from the Sahel region of northern Nigeria.

Tangasa is a community made up mainly of moderate Muslims who locals believe are from Niger and Mali and fear them.

Recently, U.S. and Nigerian authorities have said the militants are affiliated with the Islamic State group in the Sahel, although the Islamic State has not been linked to any of the group’s activities and has not declared links to La Kourawa like other groups it supports in the region.

When the BBC visited Nukuru, one of several remote villages in Tangasa, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the site of the US missile strike, most people were deeply skeptical and reluctant to talk about Rakulawa – fearing reprisals if they spoke.

Some men agreed to be interviewed only after being assured that their identities would remain confidential, speaking in hushed tones.

On Saturday, we entered a dangerous area about 12 kilometers from the Niger border with a police escort and additional security personnel.

Police generally do not venture into the area because they say they do not have enough firepower to confront the militants if they come under attack.

Due to ongoing security risks, our team was unable to reach the attack site and were advised not to stay in the area for too long, lest the militants have time to lay mines on our exit route.

A farmer who lives not far from Nukuru said some fleeing militants gathered in his community shortly after Thursday night’s attack.

“They came on about 15 motorcycles,” he told the BBC, explaining that there were three fighters on each motorcycle.

He heard them calling other people, urging them to leave as quickly as possible before escaping on their motorcycles.

“It looked like they were sad – and we were scared,” he said. “They were not carrying any dead people, just some luggage.”

It is unclear whether there were any casualties In attacks on two camps ordered by US President Donald Trump.

But the residents of Nukuru, a small village of about 40 mud-walled and thatched huts and clay silos used to store crops harvested months ago, can attest to the missile’s power.

“The doors and the roof are shaking, and the old roof is torn off,” a 70-year-old man told us.

“We couldn’t sleep because there was shaking everywhere. We didn’t know what it was, we heard something falling from the sky and then it was on fire.”

Yet villagers fear the militants will regroup. They are agile and use their motorcycles to quickly traverse the area’s rugged terrain.

It’s not hard to see how the group gained a foothold here, as there is little sign of a government presence.

There are no visible schools, hospitals or paved roads. Much of the terrain is only accessible using vehicles capable of navigating rough desert roads.

In Nukuru, the villagers’ main form of transportation appears to be donkeys.

They said Lakulawa militants entered the community during the day and established themselves as the de facto ruling authority.

Since the Islamists are well-armed, farmers and villagers have no choice but to agree to their terms and taxes. If they disobey, they are attacked and their livestock stolen.

The farmer interviewed by the BBC said the militants passed through his village most of the time on their way to other communities.

“We know they are La Kourawa because of the way they dress,” he said, describing the camouflage uniforms and turbans commonly worn by men in the desert regions of Mali and Niger.

He said the militants speak Fulfide internally, a Fulani language spoken in many West African countries, but communicate with locals in Hausa, the region’s lingua franca.

At night, the warriors returned to their isolated camps, which were located on higher ground, providing them with a good vantage point overlooking the plains. No women or families are believed to be living in these makeshift bases.

When Lakulawa first arrived in the predominantly Muslim states of Sokoto and Kebbi, the group positioned itself as a religious force looking to help vulnerable communities in insecure areas.

Nigeria faces a complex set of security issues. For the past 15 years, the country’s northeast has been suffering from a devastating Islamist insurgency controlled by jihadist groups such as Boko Haram.

But recently, large swaths of the country’s northwest have been terrorized by criminal gangs, known locally as bandits, who extort money by kidnapping and extorting people.

When Lakurawa moved into communities along Niger’s border with Nigeria, it prompted the bandits to move elsewhere.

At first, it was thought that this gained the group some goodwill among the locals, but this did not last long. People in the Tangasa region say religious militants have become harsh and started enforcing harsh rules and spreading fear.

A resident of Nukuru spoke of the hardline, strict Muslim ideology imposed by the militants, including bans on things they consider contrary to Sharia law.

“We cannot live freely,” the young man told the BBC. “You can’t even play music on your phone – not only will they confiscate your phone, they’ll punish you.”

Some highly conservative Muslim sects believe music distracts from religious obligations or encourages immoral behavior, and offenders are subject to whipping.

Some Rakulawa fighters are believed to have intermarried with border communities, keeping their families away from the camps and recruiting young people.

Some of the recruits are used as informants, while others help the militants trade or collect supplies from residents.

Thursday’s attack was the second time the group has been targeted in an operation on Christmas Day.

Last Christmas, the Nigerian military launched attacks against them near Gidansama and Rumutwa, a few kilometers from Nukuru. About 10 civilians were killed.

A month later, just days after Trump was inaugurated, The Nigerian government lists the group as a terrorist organization.

Court documents accuse the militants of cattle rustling, kidnapping for ransom, taking hostages and attacking senior government officials.

The move gives the government broad powers to take strong action against the group.

When Trump announced the Christmas strike, he said it was because the group was “primarily vicious in killing innocent Christians to a degree not seen in years, if not centuries.”

Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tugar has been at pains to point out that the latest attack was a “joint operation” and “not linked to a particular religion.”

Most villagers and farmers living in the shadow of the militants are Muslims, not Christians.

But if a joint U.S.-Nigerian campaign can lift Lakuwara’s grip on their lives, they will apparently be grateful to be free from terror.

Additional reporting by Abayomi Adisa and Gift Ufuoma