Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
Which militant Islamist groups have claimed or been linked to attacks on Christians in Nigeria since 2015?
Executive summary
Since 2015, reporting and monitoring groups link several Islamist militant actors to attacks on Christians in Nigeria — most prominently Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) [1] [2] [3]. Other actors named in advocacy and faith-based reporting include extremist elements among Fulani herders/bandits and unaffiliated “Fulani fighters,” though mainstream analysts caution the violence is complex and not always exclusively religiously motivated [4] [5] [6].
1. Boko Haram and its 2015–onward evolution: the headline jihadists
Boko Haram is the best-documented Islamist group attacking Christians in Nigeria; it carried out large-scale attacks on churches and Christian communities before and after 2015 and pledged allegiance to ISIL in 2015, after which it continued assaults on churches, schools and villages in northeastern and central Nigeria [1] [2] [3]. Britannica notes Boko Haram attacked Christian targets — including Christmas Eve strikes and the 2015 attack patterns — and U.S. and international counter‑terrorism profiles document the group’s frequent targeting of civilians, including Christians [1] [2].
2. ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province): the IS‑linked faction
After Boko Haram’s 2015 pledge to IS, dissidents formed ISWAP; both names are used in reporting and observers link ISWAP to continued attacks in the region [3] [1]. Open Doors and other faith‑based groups explicitly identify ISWAP as one of the Islamist militants who have “explicitly and repeatedly declared Christians as targets,” and monitoring sources note ISWAP’s activity since the split [5] [1].
3. “Fulani fighters” / radicalized herders: blurred lines between ethnicity, banditry and jihad
Several faith‑based outlets and commentators describe violent elements among Fulani herders as Islamist or “Fulani fighters” who have attacked Christian communities in the Middle Belt; these actors are variously described as bandits, extremist herders, or jihadist‑influenced militants [4] [5] [7]. Reporting emphasizes that some Fulani attackers have adopted radical Islamist rhetoric during raids, but mainstream analysts warn that many clashes in the Middle Belt arise from land, resource and ethnic conflicts rather than purely doctrinal militancy [6] [8].
4. Other named groups and the caution about attribution
Advocacy pieces and religious outlets sometimes enumerate additional groups or label local armed gangs as Islamist militants involved in attacks on Christians; however, authoritative monitors and national officials caution that violence in Nigeria involves a mix of insurgents, criminal bandits, herder–farmer clashes and opportunistic kidnappers — and that accusations of a single, religion‑targeted campaign are contested [6] [9] [8]. The BBC and The Conversation report that groups monitoring violence find no clear evidence Christians are killed disproportionately compared with Muslims, stressing the multi‑causal nature of the violence [9] [6].
5. Numbers, reports and competing narratives
Some organizations and reports (including Intersociety and faith outlets) put very large figures on Christian deaths attributed to Islamist militants — for example, a report cited by Vatican News claimed more than 50,000 Christians killed over 14 years [10]. Other analysts, NGOs and international monitors advise caution: patterns of attacks on both mosques and churches, overlapping motives (resource disputes, criminality, local vendettas) and disputed casualty tallies make simple attributions unreliable [6] [9].
6. Why different sources disagree: agendas and evidence gaps
Faith‑based groups like Open Doors and Barnabas Aid emphasize persecution narratives and identify Boko Haram, ISWAP and radicalized Fulani militants as targeting Christians [5] [7]. National governments and some crisis analysts push back, arguing violence affects all communities and warning that “Christian genocide” narratives can be divisive or misleading [9] [11]. Independent commentators and academic monitors point to data showing attacks on both mosques and churches in different years and stress that fatalities are hard to disaggregate by motive or religion [6].
7. What reporting does not say: limits of available sources
Available sources do not provide an exhaustive list of every group claiming each specific attack since 2015; much attribution is contested, and independent confirmation for many individual incidents is absent from the materials provided here (not found in current reporting). Where a source explicitly attributes attacks (e.g., Boko Haram/ISWAP), those attributions are cited above [1] [2] [3] [5].
8. Takeaway for readers
Reporting consistently identifies Boko Haram and ISWAP as primary Islamist actors who have attacked Christians in Nigeria since 2015, and several faith‑oriented outlets also point to violent Fulani elements [1] [2] [5] [4]. At the same time, mainstream analysts and monitoring groups urge caution: Nigeria’s violence is multi‑dimensional, involves non‑ideological banditry and resource conflicts, and cannot always be reduced to a single religiously motivated campaign [6] [9].