The raid on Tuanul, alternatively referred to as the Tuanul Massacre, the Tuanul Conflict, the Jakku Assault, or the covert Jakku mission, was a military incursion executed by the First Order against Tuanul, a holy settlement situated on the planet of Jakku, during the period of the Cold War. This offensive was spearheaded by Kylo Ren, a dark side adept, who was in pursuit of a schematic believed to reveal the coordinates of the exiled Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. As four squadrons belonging to Kylo Ren's forces descended upon Tuanul, deploying a contingent of eighty stormtroopers, Poe Dameron, a commander and Resistance pilot, received the map's data from Lor San Tekka, an ally to the Resistance. Despite BB-8's pre-emptive warning, Dameron's attempt to escape before the attack was thwarted when his T-70 X-wing starfighter was crippled by the attacking stormtroopers. Dameron then instructed BB-8 to flee the village with the map. Subsequently, Tekka was slain by Kylo Ren, Dameron was taken prisoner, and the villagers were massacred.
By 34 ABY, the First Order had ascertained that Lor San Tekka was concealed on Jakku, possessing a fragment of the map that pinpointed the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master they sought to locate and eliminate. Driven by his desire to obtain the map, Kylo Ren, accompanied by Captain Phasma and a First Order detachment consisting of stormtroopers and flametroopers, journeyed to Tuanul, the village inhabited by Tekka, aboard AAL-1971/9.1 Troop Transports.
Upon disembarking from their transports, the stormtroopers swiftly overwhelmed the villagers' initial defense, suffering minimal losses. Meanwhile, prompted by Poe Dameron, the Resistance commander, BB-8 successfully escaped Tuanul carrying the map, while the pilot joined the fray. Dameron eliminated several stormtroopers, including FN-2003, whose demise was witnessed by fellow trooper FN-2187. The death of FN-2003 triggered a moral awakening within him, exposing the trooper to the First Order's brutality, which would eventually lead to his desertion. Just as FN-2187 began to perceive this brutality, Kylo Ren's command shuttle touched down.
The surviving villagers of Tuanul were gathered into a large group before San Tekka was presented to Ren, who demanded information regarding the map's whereabouts. San Tekka asserted that Ren could not deny the truth of his own family, prompting Ren to fatally strike the old man with his lightsaber after sarcastically agreeing with the latter's claim. In response, Dameron fired upon Ren, but the dark warrior stopped the projectile and subsequently apprehended the pilot, deducing that San Tekka had entrusted him with the map. Dameron was searched and transported aboard Ren's Resurgent-class Star Destroyer, the Finalizer, for interrogation. Meanwhile, Captain Phasma and her stormtroopers—excluding FN-2187—executed the remaining villagers under Ren's command.
Disheartened by the ruthlessness of the First Order forces during the Tuanul assault, FN-2187 resolved to defect from the First Order. He liberated Dameron from his cell and persuaded him to flee together aboard a stolen TIE/sf space superiority fighter. Their TIE was downed by the Finalizer's weaponry and crash-landed in Jakku's Goazon Badlands. After becoming separated from Dameron, Finn encountered BB-8 and Rey, a local scavenger. Rey had also heard tales of the attack and harbored animosity towards the First Order due to their brutal methods. Pursued by First Order forces, they managed to escape aboard the Millennium Falcon into space. After encountering Han Solo and Chewbacca, they convinced Solo to aid them in returning BB-8, who possessed the map, to the Resistance.
Largely due to its brutal nature, the attack inspired a propaganda poster featuring flametroopers involved in the assault, titled "The Massacre at Tuanul."
The Tuanul attack is depicted in the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, the initial entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
In earlier drafts of the film, Kylo Ren revealed his lineage to Lor San Tekka in the opening scene, rather than San Tekka hinting at it following the attack. This concept was later abandoned by director J.J. Abrams to avoid prematurely revealing the mystery surrounding Ren's parentage. Conversely, the scene following the attack marked Adam Driver's debut in the film, and he feared being dismissed if he inadvertently struck Max von Sydow with Ren's lightsaber due to impaired vision while wearing the mask. He ultimately avoided hitting von Sydow through sheer luck.
The scene featuring Poe Dameron and BB-8 alongside his X-wing was filmed on the studio backlot using a full-scale replica. Abrams and the filming crew utilized FN-2003's death to emphasize that stormtroopers were human beings, not droids.