Terrorism in Nigeria

The risk of terrorist attacks in Nigeria over the past years can be classified as extremely high. Worldwide this is one of the most dangerous countries with the most and devastating attacks. Over the past 5 years a total number of 2470 terrorist incidents has been recorded, in which 17751 people have been killed and 7345 injured. Among them were 318 suicide acts.

In 372 incedents a total of 2811 people have been kidnapped or taken as hostage, though a ransom was rarely (55 times) extorted.

› Topic page: Terrorism

Back to overview: Nigeria

Most frequent attack targets in Nigeria

(2013 to 2017)

Target	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Private citizens	1573	14,208	4,794	2,298
Government	211	555	146	82
Police	178	809	130	60
Religious institutions	128	828	912	16
Business	115	770	474	76
Utilities	91	3	12	2
Military	80	1,140	186	31
Educational institution	63	539	201	307
Non-state militias	52	481	155	203
Transportation	47	442	603	22

Most affected regions

(2013 to 2017)

Region	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Borno	981	10,044	3,275	1,901
Benue	205	1,164	110	26
Adamawa	161	1,247	603	196
Plateau	123	808	290	2
Yobe	122	1,233	668	284
Kaduna	115	713	211	14
Delta	96	49	54	25
Rivers	65	76	54	39
Bayelsa	56	44	24	37
Kano	52	349	665	1
Nasarawa	51	219	68	3
Gombe	50	264	218	0
Taraba	50	383	348	5
Bauchi	36	73	139	11
Kogi	33	49	0	13
Lagos	33	89	20	43
Zamfara	30	462	86	54
Edo	28	16	24	28
Abuja	24	160	289	15
Katsina	17	103	26	0

Terrorist organisations in Nigeria

Organisation	Attacks	Killed	Injured	Hostages
Boko Haram	1362	13,650	5,942	2,416
Fulani extremists	218	1,116	184	59
Ijaw extremists	13	64	0	8
Bachama extremists	4	30	0	0
Muslim extremists	3	3	0	0
Tarok Militia	2	28	6	0
Urhobo Gbagbako	2	0	0	0
Niger Delta extremists	2	0	0	0
Tiv Militia	1	5	0	0
Red Egbesu Water Lions	1	0	0	0
Red Scorpion	1	0	0	0

All information sourced from the "National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism" (START) and its Global Terrorism Database. An act of terrorism is concidered every incident which is aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal, but not for pure profit motives. In addition these incidents must not be legitimized by warfare activities, listet in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.