Niger’s southwestern Tillaberi and Dosso regions have become host to the latest turf war between Sahelian terror groups Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Islamic State Sahel Province (IS Sahel).
In recent weeks, the two groups have attacked each other repeatedly as each seeks to establish dominance over the corner of Niger that borders Benin to the south and northwest Nigeria to the east.
“The rivalry between the two groups is both ideological and territorial,” Héni Nsaibia, senior researcher for West Africa at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project, told The Africa Report.
Although JNIM remains the more powerful of the two, the battle for Tillaberi and Dosso has been deadly, Nsaibia noted. Tillaberi surrounds the national capital, Niamey.
In early April, IS Sahel announced that it had killed 35 JNIM fighters and claimed their weapons and motorcycles in retribution for a JNIM attack on a village in Tillaberi the week before.
The fighting in southwestern Niger is an extension of the yearslong rivalry between JNIM and IS Sahel that has spread across Burkina Faso and Mali. The military coups that overthrew democratically elected governments in the region between 2021 and 2023 have done little to rein in the terrorist groups.
As the two groups have expanded across the Sahel, they have repeatedly clashed in their quest for territory and the resources that come with it, such as zakat “taxes” on civilians, cattle rustling and other moneymaking schemes.
The two groups have taken different approaches to establish themselves in Tillaberi and Dosso. Although both are violent, JNIM tries to portray itself as the protector of local communities and show that it can fill service gaps left by government.
“In contrast, ISSP is more coercive and brutal, often resorting to mass violence,” Nsaibia noted.
Both groups regularly attack military positions. Both also have taken advantage of Russia’s shift from the brutality of the Wagner Group to the more hands-off approach of the government-directed Africa Corps.
IS Sahel is based north of Niamey. In late January, its fighters attacked Niger’s international airport and the adjacent Air Base 101 that hosts a few hundred Africa Corps fighters. The surprise attack ultimately was defeated, but not before it served as a crucial propaganda victory for IS Sahel.
“The impact is primarily psychological: by targeting the airport, the Islamic State is not merely seeking media visibility but striking at a particularly vulnerable symbol of sovereignty,” analysts with the website West African Maps wrote recently.
“The attack highlights the persistent challenges involved in securing critical infrastructure, at a time when transitional authorities claim to prioritize the protection of the territory and the population,” the analysts added.
JNIM has built its base in the transnational W-Arly-Pendjari national park complex along the borders of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger. From there, JNIM has launched attacks into Benin and Nigeria. In late 2025, JNIM fighters killed 10 Nigerien soldiers in the Tillaberi region.
As the turf war between JNIM and IS Sahel escalates, so does the war of words. Each side accuses the other of being either deviants (JNIM’s name for IS Sahel) or apostates (IS Sahel’s term for JNIM). Without successful military action to stop them, the two groups likely will continue their deadly fight for supremacy, analysts say.
“This competition will likely continue to fuel recruitment, expansion, and violence, making the terrorist insurgency increasingly difficult to contain,” Nsaibia told Reuters.
