Violent attacks in the border areas of Nigeria, Benin and Niger rose by 262 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, according to new data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, ACLED. The study found an 86 percent increase in violent incidents across parts of Benin and Niger, and Nigeria’s Sokoto, Kebbi, Niger and Kwara states.
ACLED said campaigns by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin and the Islamic State Sahel Province have intensified in the border triangle. Between June and November 2025, JNIM claimed attacks in Basso, Wara, Nuku and Karunji along the Benin-Nigeria border, marking some of its first publicly acknowledged operations inside Nigeria.
In December and February, ISSP also claimed attacks in Goubey and Birni N’Konni in the Niger-Nigeria borderlands. The report said limited state presence and weak border controls have worsened since several Sahelian states withdrew from ECOWAS, reducing regional cooperation and cross-border coordination.
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The study also cited United States precision strikes in December against two Islamic State enclaves in Sokoto, carried out with the permission of the Nigerian government. It said the action followed the October kidnapping in Niamey of an American citizen, missionary and pilot, Kevin Rideout, and reflected ongoing military cooperation between Washington and Abuja.
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