1.2.6. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and airstrikes

Table of contents

1.2.6. Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and airstrikes

Sources reported widely different numbers of fatalities caused by IED attacks, with Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) recording 200 such civilian deaths248 and SBM Intelligence documenting 42 related deaths in 2024.249 After years of low incidence of suicide attacks,250 a notable upsurge in bombings by ISWAP was observed in the North-East,251 with unclaimed suicide attacks killing dozens in mid-2024 in Borno’s Gwoza and Konduga LGAs.252 At least one large-scale suicide attack was reported in 2025.253 Meanwhile, airstrikes by the Nigerian armed forces killed dozens of civilians in Kaduna,254 Sokoto255 and Zamfara states.256 Amongst others, an airstrike targeting a site of the insurgent group Lakurawa in Sokoto State mistakenly killed 10 civilians in late 2024.257

  • 248

    AOAV, Explosive Violence Monitor 2024, 20 May 2025, url, p. 12

  • 249

    SBM Intelligence, Nigeria’s growing IED menace, 19 February 2025, url

  • 250

    HRW, Resurgence of Suicide Bombings in Nigeria’s Boko Haram Conflict, 24 June 2025, url

  • 251

    UN Security Council, Letter dated 19 July 2024 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999), 1989 (2011) and 2253 (2015) concerning Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities addressed to the President of the Security Council [containing thirty-fourth report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team submitted pursuant to resolution 2734 (2024) concerning ISIL (Da’esh), Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities], S/2024/556, 22 July 2024, url, para. 27

  • 252

    UNSG, Activities of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, S/2024/871, 2 December 2024, url, para. 26

  • 253

    HRW, Resurgence of Suicide Bombings in Nigeria’s Boko Haram Conflict, 24 June 2025, url

  • 254

    Amnesty International, The State of the World's Human Rights, Nigeria 2024, 29 April 2025, url; HRW, Nigerian Military Accused of Another Deadly Airstrike, 9 October 2024, url

  • 255

    Amnesty International, The State of the World's Human Rights, Nigeria 2024, 29 April 2025, url;

  • 256

    HRW, Another Erroneous Airstrike Claims Lives in Nigeria, 13 January 2025, url

  • 257

    Al Jazeera, Lakurawa, the new armed group wreaking havoc on the Nigeria-Niger border, 10 January 2025, url