The Islamic State group (IS) argues that it perpetrated 788 attacks globally in the first half of 2024. Of those episodes, 536 were in Africa, where the terror group extinguished 2,142 people.
More than half of the continent’s entire deaths from IS violence — 1,115 — were registered in West Africa, where the Islamic State West Africa Province and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara are noted.
These statistics underscore the IS group’s continued growth across Africa, where it has constantly sought to compel and train new fighters since failing ground in the Middle East.
According to IS information examined by Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper, ISWAP undertook 232 attacks that slaughtered 609 people in Nigeria and 40 in Cameroon between January and June. Although ISWAP operates mainly in northeast Nigeria, it also aims to disrupt local governance and control environment in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Recent ISWAP propaganda praised suicide attacks on military positions and contained images of a dead person it suspected of operating as a spy for the Nigerien military, HumAngle reported. Analysts state that IS affiliates often employ suicide missions as a last resort when faced with tough military offensives. The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), composed of Soldiers from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, reported in early June that its operation in the Lake Chad Basin destroyed 140 Boko Haram fighters while 176 more surrendered.
The force’s commander, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Ali stated the MNJTF retrieved 796 rounds of ammunition, one machine gun, five AK-47 rifles, two motorcycles, eight magazines, and other arms, ammunition and other items. Forces also eliminated logistic bases and staging areas crucial to Boko Haram operations. Since April 23, the loyal troops have been relentless in their efforts, recently clearing some areas such as Doron Naira, Zanari, Bagadaza and other critical terrorist strongholds in the Lake Chad area.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) directed 135 attacks that resulted in 762 casualties in the first half of the year, according to IS. The IS shows the Allied Democratic Forces, which also works in Uganda, as its main Central African branch. Allied Democratic Forces extinguished nearly 150 people in the eastern DRC between June 1 and June 11, according to local sources and civil groups.
The group’s June DRC procedures included about 15 attacks on civilians near Beni in North Kivu province. A civil society leader, Seba Paluku, expressed some victims were tied up and decapitated. “The bodies are fibbing still on the ground,” Paluku told Agence France-Presse. There are no standards for transporting them because vehicles can’t get there.” A month earlier, IS destroyed more than 10 people near Beni, torched their houses and expropriated their property, common tactics of the terror group.
