The Islamic State - Sahel Province (ISSP) claimed to have killed more than 400 terrorists from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM), an organization linked to Al-Qaeda, during a battle fought in Burkina Faso, near the borders with Mali and Niger.
The announcement was made on Monday by the ISSP, which stated that among the dead were also several leaders of the rival terrorist faction. According to the organization, the clashes occurred four days earlier in the Burkinabe province of Oudalan. However, the death toll has not yet been independently confirmed.
If the balance reported by the Islamic State is verified, the confrontation would become the deadliest recorded between the two extremist organizations.
Islamic terrorists.
This was warned by Heni Nsaibia, an analyst at ACLED, an entity that monitors armed conflicts, who stated: "If the reported death toll is confirmed, then it will be the deadliest battle recorded between the two groups".
The episode represents a new escalation point in a territorial dispute that has been ongoing since 2019 and involves two terrorist groups seeking to control the same routes, populations, and areas of influence.
In early September, the ISSP had already reported more than 200 combatants killed in clashes that occurred in the same region.
A war that extends across the Sahel
Clashes between the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have intensified since September and reached a dimension that concerns international organizations.
According to a report by United Nations experts presented to the Security Council in early August, this is "the most intense direct confrontation globally" between a branch of Al-Qaeda and a group linked to the Islamic State.
Islamic terrorists.
The violence between the two organizations is not a recent phenomenon. According to Nsaibia's data, between 2019 and last month, there were more than 320 battles between both factions, resulting in approximately 2,200 deaths.
The latest clashes, according to Wamaps, a collective of journalists from West Africa, began on October 9 in the border area shared by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
The dispute stems from the competition for territories and available resources in the region. Wassim Nasr, a specialist in jihadist organizations and an associate researcher at the Soufan Center, described the conflict as a struggle for "the same potential living space and the same recruitment sources", in a "race for control of the borders between the three countries".
Moreover, the expansion of the clashes has already surpassed the areas where they were initially concentrated. While for years the fighting was mainly limited to Mali and Burkina Faso, in recent months it has spread to western Niger and even northwestern Nigeria.
From its Malian stronghold in Menaka, the Islamic State has also expanded its influence into the Nigerien regions of Tahoua, Dosso, and Maradi, reaching the Nigerian border. This expansion facilitates the movement of terrorists, equipment, and technical knowledge to ISWAP, the Islamic State branch operating in the Lake Chad basin.
