ADF

Islamic State West Africa Province extremists have begun using weaponized drones in their attacks against government forces in the Lake Chad Basin, marking a major shift in tactics for the terrorist group. Like many other extremists, the group also known as ISWAP previously used small, commercially available drones for intelligence-gathering and creating propaganda videos. Fighters used drones to monitor troop movements and to film their forces in training camps as a way to recruit new members. In 2022, ISWAP released a video showing aerial video of military camps and vehicles that it said it had filmed using drones to spy…

Experts are alarmed at growing violence in the Sahel and the possibility of extremist groups consolidating gains to form a terror state. Last year, Burkina Faso was the country most affected by terrorism worldwide, according to the Global Terrorism Index, and armed groups now control more than half of the country. Mali was ranked third and Niger 10th. The military juntas in these countries used insecurity to justify seizing power. However, terrorist attacks in the region have doubled and resulting deaths have tripled since 2021, analyst Michael DeAngelo wrote for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Extremists have taken control of…

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was en route to Mogadishu International Airport on March 18 when al-Shabaab militants launched a bomb attack on his convoy. Mohamud was uninjured and continued his trip to join troops on the frontlines in Hirshabelle State, but the militants killed at least four civilians near a heavily fortified area of Mogadishu. “With the unity of our people and the support of our international partners, we will secure lasting peace and stability for Somalia,” the country’s Information Ministry said afterword. The brazen attack came eight days after Abdisalam Guled, former deputy director of Somalia’s National Intelligence…

ADF STAFF Three vast, connected national parks in West Africa — the W, Arly and Pendjari — are known as the WAP Complex. They also have become known for terrorist groups and transnational crime. Stretching for 34,000 square kilometers across the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger, the WAP is full of dense forests, marshy wetlands and savannas where large populations of wildlife abound. But a lack of government presence, a dearth of security forces and the three countries’ porous borders have given easy access to criminal networks involved in the smuggling and trafficking of drugs and weapons. Sahel-based…

Attack drones launched by the Government of National Accord during Libya’s civil war in 2020 reportedly used artificial intelligence (AI) to locate, target and fire upon vehicles and troops that belonged to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army. The Kargu-2, made by Turkish company STM, comes with “automatic target selection and facial-recognition capabilities,” leading some experts to contend that Libya was the site of the first autonomous combat weapon used in Africa. “It’s been five years now, and it is clear that this was not the last attack of this kind,” said Africa Center for Strategic Studies researcher Nate…

Faced with a rising tide of external threats in the north, Benin has spent much of the past eight years modernizing and expanding its military. It has built several forward operating bases and outposts near the border, recruited and deployed more troops, acquired drones and armored vehicles, and strengthened relationships with international partners, including U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). On January 22, the United States and Benin signed a bilateral cooperation agreement “strengthening collaboration between the Beninese Armed Forces (FAB) and the U.S. Army,” the U.S. embassy said. Benin has suffered several deadly attacks in recent years, as groups linked to…

Rowland Turaki was a cybersecurity student in Lagos, Nigeria, when he answered an advertisement seeking customer service representatives for a Chinese-owned company called Genting International Co. Ltd. Turaki’s interview focused on his typing skills instead of his computer skills. When he joined other young men in their 20s on the staff, he received a script that he was to use to interact with clients through a computer chat window. “The chat was basically befriending the client and gaining the client’s trust,” Turaki recently told a Nigerian court. “I was to present myself as a woman to gain the client’s trust.”…

Although Morocco has not experienced a major terror attack in more than a decade, it remains a target for terror organizations. The Islamic State group (IS), particularly, has turned its attention to Morocco in a bid to establish supply lines and spread its influence. The kingdom’s strategic location and aggressive counter-terror posture put it “on the front lines of the fight against transnational terrorism,” according to Cherkaoui Roudani, a Moroccan professor specializing in diplomacy, international relations, security and crisis management. “Through a robust defense doctrine, ongoing modernization of its security forces, and close international cooperation, Morocco has become a true global…

The Islamic State group’s Somalia branch has become a crucial hub for financing terror across Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, according to recent studies. Islamic State-Somalia (ISSOM) operates out of the mountains of northern Puntland, placing it at the center of IS’s network reaching from Afghanistan to Mozambique. From that position, ISSOM funnels arms, fighters and millions of dollars in cash to IS affiliates across the region. Once considered a minor security threat, the group’s al-Karrar office has become a major player in the broader IS system. In February, ISSOM fighters killed nearly 100 people and wounded 60…

Nigeria’s National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is reviewing its strategy as terror organizations launch fresh attacks. The NCTC, the Office of the National Security Advisor and other stakeholders discussed the strategy during a two-day workshop in February. It was held amid a surge in terror attacks near the country’s northern border with Niger. During the event, Maj. Gen. Adamu Garba Laka, the center’s national coordinator, characterized violent extremism as “one of the most complex security challenges of our time.” “It threatens national security and the very fabric of various communities, institutions and social cohesion,” Laka said in a report on the…