DAKAR, Senegal — Gunfire and explosions tore through Niger’s primary international airport recently, serving as the latest indicator that armed extremist groups are shifting their focus toward cities and urban areas across Africa’s Sahel region as they battle for territory and influence, according to analysts.
The jihadi organization JNIM, which has ties to al-Qaeda and is considered the most powerful militant group operating in the Sahel — the vast stretch of land just south of the Sahara desert — has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s assault on Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey. The attack resulted in the deaths of 11 soldiers and two civilians.
This was actually the second time this year that the airport has come under attack. The facility is considered a critical strategic location, functioning as the command center for Niger’s ruling military government and housing the majority of the country’s air force, drones, and aircraft. It also serves as headquarters for a regional military alliance uniting forces from Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
Back in January, the Islamic State group’s Sahel Province, known as ISSP, claimed credit for a similar strike in which gunmen on motorcycles stormed the airport, targeting high-value drone equipment. These attacks on Niger, unprecedented at this scale in recent memory, come alongside a major raid and an ongoing fuel blockade carried out by al-Qaeda in and around Mali’s capital city of Bamako.
Both al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters and those backed by the Islamic State group — rival factions with competing visions for the region — began ramping up their operations last year as they each seek to expand their foothold in what has become one of the world’s most active terrorism hotspots.
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, who serves as deputy project director for the International Crisis Group think tank, noted that the recent wave of attacks signals a broader strategic shift. Militant groups are no longer limiting themselves to isolated, under-policed rural communities — they are now increasingly setting their sights on urban areas.
The three neighboring countries of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali sit at the center of this militant activity. All three are currently governed by military juntas that took power through coups, driven in large part by frustration with Western partners and elected governments.
All three nations have since pivoted away from Western allies and toward Russia as their primary security partner. French and American military forces have pulled out of the region, while Russian military personnel have taken their place.
Ibrahim noted that while Thursday’s attack was less significant in scale than the January strike, it still carries weight for JNIM’s broader strategy. “JNIM in Niger is trying to mark its territory. This is a message to the government but also to IS,” he said, referring to the Islamic State group.
Niger’s geographic position makes it especially valuable to these competing factions. The country shares borders with Mali and Burkina Faso to the west — where JNIM holds its strongest presence — and with Nigeria and Chad to the south and east, where groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP, are active. To the north, Niger extends deep into the Sahara toward Libya and Algeria.
Analysts are raising alarms that ISSP and ISWAP are working to use the border between Niger and Nigeria as a bridge to link the two organizations, potentially creating a connected extremist corridor across a massive stretch of African territory — something JNIM is actively working to prevent.
Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, described the situation bluntly. “Niger is a territory of competition between them,” he said. “If JNIM loses the upper hand in Niger against the Islamic State, it will jeopardize its upper hand in Mali and Burkina Faso. … You have an open space like the Wild West, where each is looking to mark its territory.”
