All articles tagged with #iswap
A series of suspected suicide bombings in Maiduguri, Nigeria, killed 23 people and injured about 108 at the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital and two markets, with no group yet claiming responsibility; security forces and emergency teams are assessing the attacks amid Nigeria’s ongoing security crisis involving Boko Haram and the ISWAP insurgency.
Jihadist groups in West Africa are increasingly using commercially available drones for reconnaissance and attacks. Acled reports about 69 drone strikes by the al-Qaeda–aligned Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2023, with roughly 20 by Islamic State affiliates (ISWAP and ISSP) across Nigeria and neighbouring countries. The latest attack on Jan 29 targeted a Nigerian military base in Borno, and ISSP also attacked Niger's Niamey airport, signaling a broader trend: drones lower costs and risk for militants and enable high‑impact operations. Experts call for preemptive strikes against drone sites and stronger counter-drone defenses to curb this escalation.