| Intagamey attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Jihadist insurgency in Niger | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Niger |  Islamic State in the Greater Sahara | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Unknown | "Hamakat" | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 17 killed 13 injured 12 missing 5 vehicles destroyed | Unknown | ||||||
On February 10, 2023, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ambushed Nigerien soldiers at Intagamey, Niger, killing at least seventeen people.
French and Nigerien forces began conducting Operation Almahaou in early 2023 to counter the growing jihadist forces from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) and Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) that are active in the tri-border area between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. [1] The operation was also part of a French propaganda effort to maintain it's image of bolstering counter-terrorism efforts in the region, especially after the deployment of the Wagner Group to Mali following the 2021 Malian coup d'état and the regime of Ibrahim Traoré that took over Burkina Faso in September 2022 and was hostile to French forces. [1] At the time of the attack, Niger was the only country in the tri-border region that allowed French troops to be involved in counter-terrorism efforts. [1]
The attack occurred near Intagamey, a village on the Malian border in the Ouallam Department of Niger. [2] Jihadists attacked a convoy of Nigerien vehicles participating in Operation Almahaou, with a provisional death toll mentioning eleven soldiers killed, thirteen injured, and sixteen missing. [3] [2] French planes flew above the attack site shortly afterward, although by that point the jihadists had fled across the Malian border. [3]
The Nigerien Ministry of Defense stated on February 17 that seventeen soldiers had been killed in the attack, thirteen were wounded, and twelve were missing. While the losses of the jihadists are unknown, the statement mentioned that five Nigerien vehicles were burned and the jihadists took away several bodies. [4]
In March 2023, a Nigerian counter-jihadist operation killed 79 fighters mainly from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara. The operation saw Nigerien troops enter Malian territory to kill the jihadists including their leader Hamakat, who masterminded the Intagamey attack. [5] No Nigerien casualties were reported in the counter-operation. [5]
France, Algeria, and the OIC condemned the Intagamey attack. [6] [7] [8]
The Islamic State – Sahel Province (ISSP), formerly known as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (IS-GS), is an Islamist militant group adhering to the ideology of Salafi Jihadism. IS-GS was formed on 15 May 2015 as the result of a split within the militant group Al-Mourabitoun. The rift was a reaction to the adherence of one of its leaders, Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahraoui, to the Islamic State. From March 2019 to 2022, IS-GS was formally part of the Islamic State – West Africa Province (ISWAP); when it was also called "ISWAP-Greater Sahara". In March 2022, IS declared the province autonomous, separating it from its West Africa Province and naming it Islamic State – Sahil Province (ISSP).
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 9 January 2020, a large group of Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants assaulted a Nigerien military base at Chinagodrar, in Niger's Tillabéri Region. They attacked an army post in Chinagodrar, in the west of the country, in Tillabéri Region, 13 kilometres from the border with Mali, 210 kilometres north of Niamey. At least 89 Nigerien soldiers were confirmed to have been killed in the attack, with more casualties suspected, making it the worst attack on the army since the start of the insurgency. The Nigerien government said that 77 militants were killed.
Since 2015, the border area between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger has been a hotbed for jihadist forces originating from Mali. The insurgency has taken place in two distinct regions of Niger. In southwest, the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara and the Nusrat al-Islam have carried out attacks in the tri-border area with Burkina Faso and Mali. Meanwhile, in the southeast, the Islamic State in the West African Province has established control in parts of southern Niger.
An Islamist insurgency has been ongoing in the Sahel region of West Africa since the 2011 Arab Spring. In particular, the intensive conflict in the three countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso has been referred to as the Sahel War.
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.
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 February 22, 2017, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Tilwa, Ouallam Department, 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 August 15, 2023, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) ambushed Nigerien soldiers near Koutougou, a village on the border between Niger and Mali. The ambush killed at least seventeen Nigerien soldiers, and was the first major attack by a jihadist group on Nigerien forces since the 2023 Nigerien coup d'état.