Islamist militant attacks on Niger, Benin and Nigeria border zone soaring, research shows

• Summary

• Militant incidents in tri-border area up 90% from 2024 to 2025

• Jihadist expansion fuels political instability in West Africa

• Sparse governance, porous borders aid Islamist group expansion

LAGOS, Feb 26 - Militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State are rapidly increasing their attacks on the borderlands between Niger, Benin and Nigeria, turning remote transit corridors into active conflict zones, according to a crisis monitoring group.

Violent incidents involving Islamist groups in the tri‑border area rose 90% between 2024 and 2025 and deaths more than doubled to over 1,000 as attacks intensified, the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED) project said in a report published on Thursday.

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The findings underscore the accelerating spread of jihadist groups in West Africa, where governments and foreign militaries have struggled for more than a decade to contain their advance.

The report said fighters aligned with al Qaeda and Islamic State have deepened their presence in Benin’s Alibori and Borgou departments, Niger’s Dosso region, and Nigeria’s Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger and Kwara states. Their operations now reflect “continued spread, growing lethality, and rising risks to civilians,” it added.

The Nigerian military and Niger and Benin governments did not respond to requests for comment.

MILITANTS EXPAND IN NORTHWEST NIGERIA

Nigeria has battled Islamist insurgents for over 15 years - mainly Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)in the northeast. But al Qaeda‑ and Islamic State‑affiliated cells have become more active in the northwest, where vast forests and weak state presence have created favourable terrain.

West Africa hosts a patchwork of jihadist factions, many operating under the umbrellas of al Qaeda‑linked Jama’at Nusrat al‑Islam wal‑Muslimin (JNIM) or Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP).

Their expansion has fuelled political instability across the region. Militaries in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have seized power since 2020, citing the failure of elected governments to stem the violence. Soldiers behind a failed coup attempt in Benin in December also blamed insecurity.

The U.S. carried out air strikes in northwestern Nigeria in December and has begun deploying a small number of troops to train Nigerian forces confronting militants.

Regional coordination has weakened in recent years as Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali—now governed by military juntas—have withdrawn from regional blocs, hampering joint security operations.

ACLED said jihadist groups have stepped up communication about their activities in the tri‑border zone, which could signal competition between rival factions. Such “outbidding,” the report said, is likely to drive further escalation.

Sparse governance and porous borders have long made frontier regions across the Sahel and coastal West Africa targets for Islamist groups seeking to evade security forces, resupply fighters and establish control over communities.

Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Lagos and David Lewis in London, Editing by Alexandra Hudson

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Macdonald Dzirutwe

Thomson Reuters

MacDonald leads a team of reporters in Nigeria that covers energy, politics and economic news in Africa’s biggest oil producer. He writes stories on operations of international oil companies, widespread insecurity that is destabilising northern Nigeria and the state of the economy. MacDonald previously worked as senior correspondent in Zimbabwe. He was part of the team that won the Reuters Story of The Year for coverage of the 2018 military coup that ended Robert Mugabe’s nearly four decades rule.

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