| 2017 Tilwa attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Jihadist insurgency in Niger | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Niger |  Islamic State in the Greater Sahara | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 16 killed 18 injured 4 pickups destroyed 7 pickups captured | Unknown | ||||||
On February 22, 2017, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Tilwa, Ouallam Department, Niger.
The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara was recognized by the Islamic State in October 2016 after Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi split off from MOJWA and pledged allegiance to caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi a year prior. [1] ISGS first began attacking Nigerien forces in October 2016 at Koutoukole prison in Niger and possibly in an attack at a refugee camp in Tazalit. [2] The next confirmed attack by ISGS took place in Bani-Bangou, when the group raided a Nigerien outpost. [3]
Around 4pm on February 22, a Nigerien army patrol was attacked in Tilwa, near the town of Tirzawene, around ten kilometers from the Malian border. [4] The attackers rode on dozens of motorcycles and pick-ups. Fighting continued between the Nigerien forces and the jihadists into much of the night, and French, Malian, and Nigerien reinforcements were dispatched from their bases along the Nigerien-Malian border. [4] Later in the night, the ISGS jihadists retreated towards Mali. Malian and French forces then began conducting patrols around the area. [4]
The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara claimed responsibility for the attack on February 24 via Mauritanian news agency Sahara Media. [5] In the statement, ISGS stated that the attack was directly organized and sponsored by al-Sahrawi. [5] They claimed responsibility a second time on January 12, 2018, through the Nouakchott Information Agency. [6]
A military source speaking to Jeune Afrique and RFI reported that at least eleven soldiers were killed, four vehicles burned and seven captured. [7] Another source speaking to AFP stated two soldiers were killed and 12 missing along with several vehicles burned or captured. [8] Army spokesman Colonel Touré Seydou Albdoula Aziz announced the next day that 15 Nigerien soldiers were killed and 19 were injured. One soldier succumbed to his injuries later on, making the toll 16 dead and 18 injured. [9] ISGS claimed 12 soldiers were killed and seven were taken hostage. [6]
The Nigerien government declared three days of national mourning and French troops of Operation Barkhane announced the deployment of 50 to 80 men in Tillabéri Region. [4]
On 16 December 2016, jihadists from Ansarul Islam and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked a Burkinabe army outpost in Nassoumbou, Soum Province, Burkina Faso, killing twelve soldiers. The attack was the first claimed by Ansarul Islam, Burkina Faso's first homegrown jihadist movement that formed a month prior.
The 2017 Ayorou attack occurred on 21 October 2017 when armed militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked a Nigerien military outpost in the village of Ayorou in southwestern Niger, killing 13 gendarmes. Occurring just weeks after a similar attack in the area killed four American and four Nigerien troops, the attack was carried out by ISGS gunmen who crossed the porous border from Mali.
On November 18, 2019, Malian troops were ambushed by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara during a patrol of Tabankort, in Ménaka Cercle, Mali.
The Ménaka offensive was a series of offensives launched by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara against the Malian Army, Tuareg self-defense groups including the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA) and Imghad Tuareg Self-Defense Group and Allies (GATIA), and the al-Qaeda-aligned Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin. The offensives took place in the Ménaka Cercle, in southeastern Mali.
On November 24, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin ambushed Nigerien MINUSMA peacekeepers and Malian soldiers in the village of Indelimane, Mali.
On March 21, 2024, militants from the Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISGS) ambushed Nigerien soldiers between the towns of Teguey and Bankilare, Tillabéri Region, Niger killing at least 23 soldiers.
The Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumdareye massacres took place on January 2, 2021, when 105 people were killed and 75 injured in attacks by Islamic State in the Greater Sahara on the villages of Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumdareye in Tondikiwindi, Ouallam Department, Niger. The massacres were one of the deadliest events in Nigerien history.
On March 8, 2010, jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) attacked Nigerien forces at their base in Tilwa, Tillabéri Region, Niger.
The Tazalit attack, also known as the Tazalit massacre, occurred on October 6, 2016, when unknown jihadists attacked Nigerien forces at the Tazalit refugee camp in Niger, killing dozens of Nigerien soldiers. The attack was the deadliest attack on Nigerien forces so far during the jihadist insurgency in Niger.
On November 8, 2016 Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) fighters attacked Nigerien forces in Bani-Bangou, Tillabéri Region, Niger.
On March 6, 2017, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) militants attacked Nigerien forces between Wanzarbe and Yatakala, Niger.
Between May 31 and June 1, 2017, clashes broke out between Nigerien forces and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) near Abala, Niger. These clashes expanded to the Nigerien-Malian border near Bani-Bangou, and on June 1 the ISGS militants were confronted by French, Malian, and Tuareg militias when the militants fled towards Ménaka Region, Mali.
On July 5, 2017, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) attacked Nigerien forces near Midal, Niger. The attack was the first claimed by JNIM in Niger.
On May 14, 2019, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Baley Beri, Niger, killing twenty-seven Nigerien soldiers.
On July 1, 2019 Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants attacked the mining town of Inates, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing eighteen Nigerien soldiers.
On December 25, 2019, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) militants attacked Nigerien forces in Sanam, Tillabéri Region, Niger.
On March 12, 2020, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants attacked an outpost of the National Guard of Niger in Ayorou, Niger, killing several soldiers. French and Nigerien counterattacks killed dozens of ISGS militants.
On July 31, 2021, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin ambushed Nigerien forces near Torodi, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing 18 Nigerien soldiers.
On March 15, 2021, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the village of Darey-Daye, Tillabéri Region, Niger, killing sixty-six civilians. The attack occurred two months after the Tchoma Bangou and Zaroumdareye massacres, the deadliest attacks on civilians by ISGS in Niger.
On February 10, 2023, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ambushed Nigerien soldiers at Intagamey, Niger, killing at least seventeen people.