Over the past decade, West Africa has experienced an unprecedented escalation of terrorist threats, particularly in fragile border areas where terrorist groups exploit socio-economic vulnerabilities and porous borders. In northern Togo, several incursions and armed attacks have been attributed to terrorist groups from neighbouring centre Sahelian territories.
These increasingly complex and coordinated attacks often involve the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and pose significant challenges for the most exposed communities, including vulnerable populations such as women and youth. These communities face deep socio-economic hardships, including poverty, limited access to education and employment opportunities, as well as intercommunal conflicts. Such conditions create an environment conducive to radicalization, which violent extremist groups seek to exploit. Moreover, porous borders facilitate the movement of IED components.
Read more…
Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
Sign up for the Counter-IED Report Newsletters
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox
Related:
- UNODC supports Togo to raise awareness on the risks of the use of IEDs components and SALW for terrorist purposes
May 5, 2026
Over the past decade, West Africa has experienced an unprecedented escalation of terrorist threats, particularly in fragile border areas where terrorist groups exploit socio-economic vulnerabilities and porous borders. In northern Togo, several incursions and armed attacks have been attributed to terrorist groups from neighbouring centre Sahelian territories. These increasingly complex and coordinated attacks often involve the ...
- Togo: Protecting civilians from the risks of Improvised Explosive Devices
November 11, 2025
As part of its support to the Togolese government to strengthen the protection of civilian populations in the north of the country against the risk posed by explosive devices, including Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), in collaboration with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), implemented several activities, ...
- Trump signs travel ban on nationals from 12 countries, restrictions on 7 more
June 4, 2025
President Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation barring travelers and immigrants from a dozen countries and restricting the entry of nationals of another seven nations, citing concerns about national security. Mr. Trump’s proclamation fully bans the entry of foreigners from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan ...
- In Ghana, Sahel jihadis find refuge and supplies, sources say
October 26, 2024
Islamist militants fighting in Burkina Faso are discreetly using Ghana’s north as a logistical and medical rear base to sustain their insurgency, seven sources told Reuters, a move that could help them expand their footprint in West Africa. The sources, who include Ghanaian security officials and regional diplomats, said Ghanaian authorities appeared to be mostly turning ...
- North Dakota Army National Guard Soldiers partner with Togo, Benin soldiers to counter IEDs
April 18, 2023
Two U.S. Army Soldiers from the North Dakota National Guard visited African countries Togo and Benin Feb. 6-17, 2023, to exchange best practices in countering improvised explosive devices with Togalese Armed Forces and Benin Armed Forces. U.S. Army Staff Sgts. Dale Burdette and Alex Radi, both members of the Jamestown, N.D. based 817th Engineer Company (Sapper), ...
- Ghana: Attempted bombing in Bawku area fuels jihadist fears
February 9, 2023
Criminals in northern Ghana tried to blow up a bridge using explosives for the first time in a region where the government fears growing violent spillover from a jihadist war across the border in Burkina Faso, a top official said. Ghana’s defence minister Dominic Nitiwul told parliament this week that criminal elements tried blowing up a ...
- Togolese army repels ‘terrorist’ attack, says official
August 23, 2022
Togo’s armed forces said Tuesday they had repelled a “terrorist” attack that injured “several” soldiers in the far northern village of Blamonga on the border with Burkina Faso. The attack, which took place on Monday, was the fifth in the country since last year, as jihadist groups operating in the Sahel appear to be gradually heading ...
- 7 Children in Togo Killed in Blast
July 11, 2022
Seven children were killed in a blast in northern Togo. The circumstances surrounding the explosion late Saturday into Sunday were not immediately clear. An investigation is underway “to determine the circumstances of this explosion and identify the perpetrators,” the army said Sunday. Read more… Source: VOA
- Togo: Eight soldiers killed in the Kpendjal prefecture, raising spectre of first deadly Islamist attack
May 11, 2022
Eight soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in an attack in northern Togo on Wednesday, the government said, marking potentially the first deadly raid on its territory by Islamist militants who have killed thousands in neighbouring countries. Before dawn, a group of heavily armed gunmen ambushed an army post in the Kpendjal prefecture near the border ...
- AQIM’s Imperial Playbook: Understanding al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb’s Expansion into West Africa
April 29, 2022
In 2021, the United Nations noted the newfound threats of the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), a branch of al-Qa`ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), that extended into Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast, stretching farther yet into Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Had an observer in 2006 had this information presented to ...
- The fledgling insurgency in Burkina’s east
September 20, 2018
Since February this year, a new battlefront has emerged in eastern Burkina Faso (ACLED, 2018), in the Est Region situated along the borders with Niger, Benin, and Togo is regarded as a bastion of banditry. However, militancy is a new phenomenon in this part of the country, except the reported failed attempt by Al-Mourabitoun to ...