Islamic State releases quarterly details of violence, claims more attacks in Nigeria

Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has claimed it orchestrated 232 attacks in the first quarter of 2024, leading to 609 deaths and injuries across its strongholds in Nigeria.

The group, after breaking away from Boko Haram in 2016, was recognised as Islamic State (IS) franchise in West Africa with operational bases in the Lake Chad basin spanning Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad.

In an official propaganda infographic published by the IS on 01 July, it said its African franchises staged 536 attacks that culminated in 2,142 casualties.

Analysing the attacks

PREMIUM TIMES’ analysis of the infographic showed that ISWAP and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) accounted for 1,115 casualties in the West Africa region. This is more than half of Africa’s total attacks (2,142) within the period under review.

ISWAP, in 232 attacks, killed 609 people in Nigeria and 40 in Cameroon. This, compared to 446 people killed in 73 attacks by its counterpart, ISGS, operating in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger Republic, was significantly high.

The ISGS, as seen in the infographic, killed 224 in Niger, 180 in Mali and 62 in Burkina Faso. These three francophone countries are under military juntas with a unified mandate to fight terrorism.

In Congo, the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) staged 135 attacks that resulted in 762 casualties.

The IS franchises in Mozambique claimed 137 casualties in 68 attacks. Also, in 14 attacks, the Islamic State in Somalia killed 128 people.

However, there were other terror activities (that claimed lives and injured others) by the IS franchises in continents like Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

The IS publication showed that 500 casualties were recorded in Russia, 393 in Syria, 303 in Iran, 142 in Pakistan, 138 in Afghanistan, 96 in Iraq, 33 in the Philippines, and two in Turkey.

In all the 788 attacks, “3,749 were killed and wounded, including 51 officers and commanders,” the group stated.

During the period under review, 1,440 houses and shops were targeted, the IS claimed, adding that 47 barracks and churches were also targeted.

While it claimed to have destroyed 202 vehicles, the IS said it acquired 25 vehicles as ghanima (booty taken in battle).

ISWAP’s campaign of terror in Nigeria

After breaking away from its original body, Jama’tu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS), popularly known as Boko Haram, ISWAP, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Abubakar Shekau, a former idiosyncratic leader of JAS, had, in 2015, pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), making him the leader of ISWAP.

Late Abubakar Shekau

But dissidence over ideological differences forced some top members of the group, including Habib Yusuf, the son of Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, to fall out with Shekau.

The breakaway faction led by Mr Yusuf, otherwise known as Abu Musab al-Barnawi went ahead to bear the name ISWAP with operational bases in the islands and shores of the Lake Chad basin.

Although the IS tried all it could to reconcile the groups led by Messers Shekau and Yusuf, the negotiation failed majorly as a result of Mr Shekau’s ideological stance, especially on who should be regarded as a kufar [apostates] and why they must be executed.

In August 2016, the IS officially recognised Mr Yusuf as the leader of ISWAP, a situation that forced Shekau and some of his loyalists to revert to JAS designation.

Subsequently, a clash between ISWAP and JAS led to the death of Mr Shekau, who experts believe killed himself to escape ridicule after Sambisa hideout was raided on 19 May 2021.

Shadowy Bakura Doro succeeded Mr Shekau, and the supremacy fights between both groups continued, diminishing their strengths. This is besides strategic military offensives against the groups.

Bakura Doro / Credit: Vincent Foucher, X

Both groups now resort to guerilla tactical attacks, deploying IEDs of various types to hit their targets. According to experts, this shift in operational pattern shows a significant combat weakness within the groups.

But that does not mean the state actors have won the war. Our correspondent understands that groups, especially ISWAP, intensify their endearing strategies in the local communities they control.

Noting that more than 35 million people need support because of the instability in Lake Chad that has claimed thousands of lives, the European Union recently allocated €201 million in humanitarian aid for Sahel and Lake Chad countries.

Recent terror attacks in Nigeria

Last Tuesday, ISWAP launched two Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) attacks on “African Coalition Forces” between Kukawa and Kidimbari in Borno State.

The bombs, according to an IS Telegram propaganda message seen by our reporter, “led to the destruction of a mechanism and the connection inside it.”

On Sunday, 30 June, ISWAP claimed that two people were killed in an IED attack carried out along Monguno road in Borno.

A day after, the terror group claimed it detonated “several bombs” on the road linking Mile 90 and Cross-Kukawa along Monguno highway in the North-eastern states.

All these attacks were reported in the media as seen here, here and here.

Similarly, JAS, on 29 June, launched suicide attacks in Gwoza, Borno State, killing over 20 locals, including wedding guests and funeral attendants. The attacks also injured scores of others.