February 6, 2026

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Lakurawa’s Growing Presence in Nigeria and the Crime-Terror Nexus

AP Photos/Jon Gambrell

Lakurawa, a vigilante group initially welcomed in 2017 by rural communities in Northwest Nigeria to protect them from escalating bandit violence, has since transformed into a serious security threat at the intersection of criminal activity and terrorism. The group blends violence and oppressive governance with criminal enterprise, but also functions as a strategic conduit linking the territorial ambitions of Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Primarily active in Sokoto State, Lakurawa camps were targeted by U.S. strikes, approved by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, on Christmas Day in 2025.

The group is believed to be responsible for dozens of civilian deaths that same year and complicates an already overstretched security apparatus in the North of the country, primarily concerned with Boko Haram and ISWAP. The group’s rise reflects the vacuum along border zones, which left communities exposed to banditry and in need of alternative security providers. This eventually enabled the group’s opportunistic shift from a self-styled defender to an extortionist actor, invoking religious doctrine to legitimize systematic resource plundering and extortive tax systems.

The exact origins of Lakurawa are muddled. While most analysts agree it first emerged in Nigeria in Sokoto State in 2016–2017, composed out of primarily Malian and Nigerien individuals, the exact progenitor groups are contested. According to The Institute for Security Studies Africa, citing Nigerian security sources, Lakurawa emerged from the fusion of Malian Fulanis tied to the Macina Liberation Front, now absorbed into al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), and a Nigerien self-defense militia focused on herders security. According to James Barnett, Murtala Ahmed Rufa’i, and Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, Lakurawa likely emerged from a combination of JNIM and Ansaru, a splinter faction of Boko Haram. In his latest in-depth study on the group, Barnett points to evidence that Lakurawa is aligned with ISSP, and that ISSP has sought to operate under the guise of the Lakurawa label. The group, designated since 2025 as a terrorist group by Abuja, effectively exploits the Niger–Nigeria border area, marked by a forested landscape that is often used to obscure and facilitate a range of illicit activity, including arms trafficking, smuggling, and militant movement.

The initial embrace of Lakurawa in 2017 by some communities in Sokoto State rapidly reversed as the group increasingly turned predatory behaviors, including extortion and violent coercion of the communities that had invited them. Lakurawa implemented strict Islamic law and punished harshly for religious infractions. It leveraged jihadist ideology and religious law as tools of control that are part and parcel of its criminal activities. For example, it engages in extortion and unfair taxation, but frames it as religiously mandated obligations (zakat). While a Nigerian-Nigerien military operation pushed back the group from settled communities into forested areas, it has again accelerated its operational tempo since 2024, combining ambushes on security forces, killings of civilians, and coercive enforcement of its rules. As of 2026, the group continues to be embedded in Sokoto State and has expanded operations to Kebbi State, bordering Niger and Benin.

OSINT analyst Brant Philip has warned that “IS-Sahel and ISWAP continue the attempts to link their zones of operations, through both central Niger and northwest Nigeria via the so-called Lakurawa group.” Lakurawa is largely understood to be an affiliate of ISSP. Some have argued that ISSP is intentionally ambiguous about its relation to Lakurawa, allowing it to operate freely across ISSP’s zone of support without attracting the same level of counterterrorism pressure. Lakurawa’s role in forming a conduit between ISSP and ISWAP is worrying in light of the Niamey attacks claimed by ISSP, footage of which seems to indicate the participation of ISWAP members. Such developments may broaden IS’ recruitment base and insurgent capabilities. Numerous analysts and the UN Monitoring Team have pointed to shared infrastructure and similar geographical patterns to confirm this alignment. In one instance, an ISWAP logistics hub in Sokoto was reportedly used to facilitate coordination between the two Islamic State affiliates through Lakurawa. As a crime-terror hybrid group, Lakurawa engenders many potential future risks: this includes forming a bridge between IS provinces, including ISSP and ISWAP, and Nigerian criminal networks, which can be a significant financial boon. Additionally, Lakuwara can further facilitate ISWAP’s significant logistical, equipment, and operational support to ISSP, and close their disconnected territorial scope through central Niger and northwest Nigeria. While Lakurawa is clearly ISSP-aligned, it also maintains ties to Boko Haram: starting in 2023, Lakurawa fighters began visiting Boko Haram camps in the northeast, with Boko Haram maintaining its primary base in Borno State.

For many, the 2025 Christmas Day strikes against the group by the U.S. military came as a surprise. The group’s current size and capabilities pale in comparison to other groups active in the region including ISWAP and Boko Haram. Regionally, actors like JNIM remain far more deadly than Lakurawa. Analyst Caleb Weiss indicates that this choice of striking the group in Sokoto State may have been connected to the fact that other elements of the group are likely behind the kidnapping of American missionary pilot Kevin Rideout in Niamey, Niger, on October 21, 2025.

Overall, the security situation in Nigeria is worth close monitoring. A recent massacre that resulted in the death of more than 160 Nigerians in Kwara state has been blamed on Lakurawa — although most analysts, noting the location of the attack, believe one of the various jihadist groups active in the Kainji Park area were responsible. The U.S. military also just recently announced that it was sending military advisers to Nigeria, where the focus will be on counterterrorism and combating groups like ISWAP, ISSP, and others.