For the second time this year, the Islamic State explicitly called for its supporters and other Muslims to take up arms in Sudan under its name. Simultaneously, it urged foreign fighters, particularly from North Africa, to travel to the country to partake in this jihad.
On Monday, the Somali government announced the killing of Shabaab co-founder Jaafar Gurey in a “precision airstrike” that was likely conducted by the United States. If confirmed, Gurey’s death would make him the most recent senior leader of the Al Qaeda branch to be killed since Mohamed Mire in late 2024.
Kevin Rideout, an American Christian missionary in Niger’s capital of Niamey since 2010, was abducted from his home by suspected jihadists just 100 yards from Niger’s Presidential Palace. Regional security in the Sahel continues to falter as both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda continue to surge.
Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, claimed yesterday’s assault on Somalia’s Godka Jilacow prison in Mogadishu. The facility is operated by Somalia’s national intelligence service, representing a major intelligence failure.
The Iraqi National Intelligence Service made a surprising announcement yesterday that it busted an Islamic State financial network spanning three countries in West Africa. The network was helping to fund Islamic State activities in Iraq, as well as attack planning in Europe.
The United States launched a rare ground operation in northern Somalia that apprehended Abdiweli Mohamed Yusuf, the finance emir for the Islamic State’s so-called Somali Province. The raid was the first confirmed US ground operation in northern Somalia since January 2023.
By the end of March 2025, the Trump administration already launched at least 16 air and drone strikes inside Somalia. In comparison, the Biden administration only launched 10 strikes in 2024.
Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, has mounted considerable attacks over the last few weeks in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle and Hiraan regions just north of Mogadishu. The group’s offensive is attempting to reverse much of the federal government’s gains during the government’s counter-Shabaab offensive between 2022 and 2023.
The United States and the United Arab Emirates are conducting airstrikes in northern Somalia in support of Puntland’s military offensive against the local Islamic State branch. Tracking UAE’s strikes in particular, however, is difficult.
In its weekly Al Naba newsletter, the Islamic State made its most explicit call for jihad inside Sudan, referring to opposing sides of the country’s brutal civil war as infidels. Both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda have now called on Muslims in Sudan to take up arms for their respective organizations.
The Islamic State released images of 12 men who took part in its recent suicide assault in northern Somalia. All of them were foreign fighters, showing the growing internationalization of this Islamic State wing.
In a rare assault, the Islamic State Somalia (ISS) tried—and ultimately failed—to oust Puntland Security Forces (PSF) from a PSF base earlier today. Nonetheless, the attack represents how ISS is growing in strength and capacity.
Shabaab announced the death of Mohamed Mire, a senior official who acted as the group’s so-called “interior emir” and a member of its central shura council.
The US Department of Defense (DoD) announced yesterday that longtime Guantanamo Bay detainee Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu was transferred to his native Kenya. Bajabu’s history presents an interesting historical look into Al Qaeda’s early activities in East Africa, acting as a reminder that the African Jihad, currently the global hotspot of jihadist activity, has been decades in the making.
On December 12, The Somali National Army (SNA) of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) in Mogadishu was routed from the southern Somali town of Ras Kamboni by the regional forces of Jubaland, a federal member state of Somalia. This conflict provides Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, an opportunity to consolidate and rebound from its previous losses.
In the latest issue of its Sada al-Malahem magazine, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) heaped significant praise on recent operations conducted by Shabaab, Al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa. The article is another data point regarding the open support between these Al Qaeda branches.
The Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al Qaeda’s branch for West Africa, has publicized its da’wah (proselytizing) activities in local communities in Mali and Burkina Faso. Photos released by the group document its men delivering religious lectures to locals in the southern Mali region of Kayes and Burkina Faso along the border with Niger.
The Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al Qaeda’s West African branch, claimed responsibility for a coordinated assault in Mali’s capital city of Bamako yesterday. The attack comes as JNIM continues to push further south within Mali, threatening the stability of Interim President Assimi Goita’s military regime.
On Saturday, the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), Al Qaeda’s branch for West Africa, killed at least 200 people in a massive assault in central Burkina Faso.
Over the weekend, fierce fighting between Tuareg rebels and the Malian military, backed by mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, was reported in the extreme north of Mali. The Russian mercenaries suffered dozens of casualties—the group’s largest loss to date inside Africa.
In a coordinated, multi-pronged offensive, Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch for East Africa, assaulted multiple Somali National Army (SNA) bases across southern Somalia’s Lower Juba region yesterday. Each side has claimed victory, with both releasing footage purporting to verify their claims.
Over the last few days, jihadis have mounted two attacks inside prisons in Somalia and Niger. While the mutiny inside the Nigerien prison was successful, the Somali prison assault appears to have been thwarted. Nonetheless, both incidents highlight the lingering threat of jihadi prison breaks on the continent and the importance jihadist groups put on such operations.
In May 2016, the Islamic State (IS) issued a eulogy for the infamous Sudanese jihadist Mohamad Makkawi Ibrahim through its weekly Al-Naba newsletter. The eulogy flew under the radar at the time but offers an interesting look into the career of one of the Islamic State’s first so-called “martyrs” in Somalia. It also provides an early chronicle of the Islamic State’s history in the Horn of Africa.
Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, took responsibility for a suicide car bombing targeting Djiboutian and Somali troops at a military base in central Somalia yesterday. The blast was the 14th suicide bombing conducted by Shabaab so far this year.
Shabaab’s video, which demonstrates its new so-called ‘special forces’ training center, is eerily similar to productions put out by the Afghan Taliban before it took over Afghanistan.
The photos act as a representation of JNIM’s training programs across the Sahel.
The Islamic State’s Mozambique Province continues to document its da’wah campaigns across large portions of Cabo Delgado Province.
In Mali and Mozambique, the Islamic State’s men are putting guns away and engaging with locals to help sensitize communities to its ideology and garner public support. In doing so, this highlights the extent of its control and/or influence.
Shabaab continues to undo progress made against it in central Somalia; the United States continues to go after its financials and conducting periodic drone strikes against its forces.
In early 2014, as Muslim civilians were being massacred in Central African Republic as part of a cycle of violence between Muslim and Christian militias, al-Qaeda went on a full-court press in an attempt to foster any jihadist movement to take up arms in the country. These attempts, however, largely fell on deaf ears. As such, this offers a unique glimpse into when, and potentially how, jihadist mobilization attempts fail.