The growing threat of IEDs in western Niger

Over the past seven months, armed groups across Western Niger have executed a series of IED attacks – a first in the area’s ongoing insurgency. The increasing use of IEDs by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) in the Tillabery and Tahoua regions of Niger indicates that the region’s insurgency is escalating and globalizing, following a similar trajectory to the conflicts in Burkina Faso and in Mali.

The new and sustained use of IEDs – as well as accompanying strategic shifts – implies that hyper-localized groups are increasingly coordinating, both with each other and (in the case of ISGS) with the global core. The geographic spread of this IED campaign also indicates that this newly-acquired tactical expertise is spread across multiple groups. A shift towards IED use in the neighboring countries of Burkina Faso and Mali preceded a new focus on territorial contestation – suggesting that these developments can likely be similarly expected in Niger moving forward.