DAKAR, Senegal — Extremist organizations have dramatically escalated violence and expanded their territorial control across border regions of three West African nations during the past year, according to findings released Thursday by a crisis monitoring organization.
Between 2024 and 2025, terrorist incidents involving extremist organizations in frontier areas of Benin, Niger and Nigeria jumped approximately 80%, while fatalities soared beyond 1,000 deaths — more than triple the previous period, data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project (ACLED) revealed.
The statistics demonstrate how regional violence has evolved into a new phase, with extremist organizations not only spreading geographically but also establishing permanent footholds, according to Héni Nsaibia, ACLED’s senior West Africa analyst.
“Militant groups are taking advantage of long-standing vulnerabilities, exploiting governance gaps and weak regional military coordination,” Nsaibia said.
During the past twelve months, two terrorist organizations — Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which maintains connections to al-Qaida, and the Islamic State Sahel Province — have swiftly moved from the Sahel desert region southward toward Atlantic coastal countries.
For the small coastal country of Benin, lethal cross-border assaults targeting military forces resulted in 2025 becoming the nation’s most violent year on record, the analysis found.
Within Niger, these organizations are strengthening their grip on territory, demonstrated by a fatal assault on a Niamey air facility last month. The nation, currently under military leadership following a 2023 takeover, continues struggling against deadly extremist violence that has devastated portions of the Sahel.
Following their rise to power, Niger’s military leadership — alongside counterparts in Mali and Burkina Faso — severed relationships with France and Western allies, instead seeking Russian military assistance to combat insurgencies.
Within Nigeria, American air operations targeting Islamic State forces in the northwest during December occurred alongside escalating assaults by various organizations. The continent’s most populated nation faces a complicated security emergency involving armed factions, including Boko Haram extremists and criminal organizations commonly called bandits. American military personnel have deployed to Nigeria to support local forces against security threats.
The analysis indicates West African extremist organizations increasingly broadcast their border region operations publicly, with JNIM announcing multiple strikes along the Benin-Nigeria frontier, including initial operations within Nigeria, while ISSP claimed responsibility for assaults near the Niger-Nigeria boundary. These public announcements demonstrate intensifying rivalry between organizations competing for regional dominance and territory, ACLED researchers concluded.
