| Wanzarbé attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Jihadist insurgency in Niger | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Niger |  Islamic State in the Greater Sahara | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 5–7 killed 4 injured 1 vehicle destroyed | Unknown | ||||||
On March 6, 2017, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) militants attacked Nigerien forces between Wanzarbe and Yatakala, Niger.
The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) splintered off from MOJWA in the mid-2010's and became an official Islamic State branch in 2016 with Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi as leader. [1] They launched their first attacks in Niger in October 2016, on the Koutokole prison and possibly in Tazalit. [1] In February 2017, the group attacked Nigerien forces again in Tilwa, in rural Tillabéri Region, killing dozens of Nigerien soldiers. [2] Three days prior to the attack in Wanzarbe, the Nigerien government declared a state of emergency in Tillaberi and Tahoua Region. [3]
The attack took place in the morning of March 6, in the same area where three Nigerien gendarmes had been killed a year prior. [4] [3] A Nigerien gendarme post in between the villages of Wanzarbe and Yatakala, Tillabéri Region, near the Malian and Burkinabe border. [3] The jihadists were unable to take the outpost, however, and fled. [4] [3] The Nigerien army began combing operations in the area after the attack was reported, and French forces launched two planes and three helicopters from Gao. [3]
Initially, Nigerien officials reported that four soldiers were killed in the attack. This toll was revised to five killed an hour later and one vehicle destroyed. [4] However, Voice of America stated that seven soldiers were killed and four were injured. [5] The ISGS claimed responsibility for the attack on January 12, 2018. [6]
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 – Sahel 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 December 24, 2019, militants from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the Burkinabe government military base in Arbinda, Sahel Region, Burkina Faso along with the town of Arbinda itself. The attack was halted due to French and Burkinabe air intervention, although 35 civilians were killed in the jihadists' massacre. The Arbinda attack was the deadliest incident in the jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso in several years.
On June 11, 2022, jihadists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara attacked the town of Seytenga, Séno Province, Burkina Faso, killing over a hundred civilians in a massacre. The massacre occurred after Burkinabe forces evacuated the city following ISGS' takeover of the Burkinabe base in the town on June 9.
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 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 February 22, 2017, jihadists from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) attacked Nigerien forces in Tilwa, Ouallam Department, 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 February 10, 2023, militants from Islamic State in the Greater Sahara ambushed Nigerien soldiers at Intagamey, Niger, killing at least seventeen people.
On December 27, 2018, jihadists from Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked Burkinabe soldiers in Loroni, northern Burkina Faso, killing ten soldiers. The attack was the deadliest incident for Burkinabe forces since the Nassoumbou attack in 2016.