Sahel Zone

[Quintus Fabius]

https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/...africa.php

Aus der Sahelzone heraus sickert der Islamismus immer weiter nach Süden in Richtung Küste.

Jihadist attacks flow into littoral West Africa

Over the last few days, the West African state of Benin has suffered from two attacks perpetrated by suspected jihadists that have left two Beninese soldiers dead. The strikes are just the latest in a worrying series of jihadist, and/or suspected jihadist, activity across several littoral West African states.

In addition to Benin, its neighbor Togo has also recently witnessed its first-ever jihadist assault within its territory earlier last month. Ivory Coast, on the other hand, has been subjected to the majority of the jihadist violence seeping into littoral West Africa.

These attacks, which are largely stemming from the proliferation of violence in Burkina Faso, which borders all three countries, are primarily thought to be perpetrated by al Qaeda’s Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM).

More specifically, it is believed that JNIM’s largely ethnic Fulani brigade, Katibat Macina, is behind this spread. JNIM, however, has not officially claimed any operation in any of the three countries.

While the Islamic State’s local branch, often called the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), also operates in Burkina Faso, it has so far not shown the capacity to project into littoral West Africa at the same degree or rate as JNIM. It is possible this dynamic could change in the future, however.

The current open-source number of attacks believed to have been perpetrated by jihadists in the three countries has been mapped out above and will be periodically updated. As some states, particularly Benin, also suffer from sporadic communal violence in roughly the same area, only those attacks fitting the modus operandi of jihadists have been recorded – particularly, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), assaults against state or military forces, and strikes against Western targets.