How an al-Qaeda offshoot became one of Africa’s deadliest militant groups

Al-Qaeda Member Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam Wal-Müslüm (Jnım) is the main group behind a militant jihadist attacks swept in many West African countries, especially Burkina Faso, financial and Niger, to several West African countries.

On July 1, the group said that it carried out a large coordinated attack at seven Military places in Western Mali, including the borders of Senegal and Mauritania.

There is increasing concern about Jnım’s influence on the stability of the region.

Burkina Faso struggled to include financial and Niger violence – and one of the factors that contributed to several military coups in three Sahel countries in the last five years.

However, like the civil governments they have replaced, Juntas cannot show the threat of a jihadist who grows especially from JNIM.

In just a few years, Jnim has become one of Africa’s most deadly jihadist groups.

In 2017, it was founded as the coalition of five jihadist militants in Mali:

• Ansar religion
• Clerk
• Mourabitoun
• Ansar Al-Islam
• Al -Qaeda’s Sahara Branch in Islam Maghreb

These groups began to cooperate after pushing a few jihadists and separatist organizations operating in Northern Mali in 2012 in 2012. Eventually, the leaders of the groups came together to form JNIM.

In recent years, they have expanded geographically by establishing new operations.

Jnim is ruled by Iyad AG Ghali, an old Mali diplomat of the Ethnic group of Tuareg. In 2012, he was under the direction of Tuareg uprising in 2012, trying to establish an independent state for the people of Tuareg, Azawad. Amadou Koufa, an assistant leader from the Fulani community.

Analysts believe that central leadership helps to guide local branches operating in the Sahel region of West Africa.

Although it is difficult to know exactly how many fighters in Jnım’s ranks, or how many huhs have been recruited soon, experts argue that there may be a few thousand – young boys and men who are often lacking other economic opportunities in one of the poorest regions of the world.

The Group rejects the authority of the Sahel governments trying to impose a close interpretation of Islam and Sharia in the fields it operates.

In some regions, analysts are known to apply solid dress codes in some regions, apply prohibitions to music and smoking, ordered men to grow beard and prevent women from being in public spaces.

Yvan Guichaoua, a senior researcher at the Bonn International Conflict Research Center, says that this version of Islam can contradict religion as it is applied by local communities.

“These applications are clearly broken from established applications and is absolutely not very popular, or he says.

“But whether it is attractive or not, it depends on what the state can offer, and there has been a lot of disappointment when the state has done in recent years.”

With the secular justice system, disappointment can bring the promotion of Sharia courts attractive to some.

After the beginning of the Middle and Northern Mali, Jnım quickly expanded its access. While the castles were in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, Jnim de Benin attacks on the Ivory Coast at some point.

According to the global initiative (GI-TOC) against a non-governmental organizer, which is a non-governmental organization, it is now operating in 11 of Mali and Burkina Faso’s 13 regions.

Last year, Burkina Faso became the central base of the group’s activities – mainly the North and East Border Regions. According to Beverly Ochieng, a senior analyst of the security consultancy firm, a senior analyst, this is partly because the divisions and defects in the country’s army and how deeply the militants were buried in local communities.

“JNIM has the ability to use JNIM as a means of gaining or gaining sympathy for local communities or local complaints.”

According to the analysis of BBC Monitoring’s jihadist media team, violence in recent months has rose to the previously unseen levels in Burkina Faso. Recently, major attacks have been carried out in Mali, Niger and Benin.

According to data confirmed by the BBC, Jnim said that he had carried out more than 280 attacks in Burkina Faso in the first half of 2025 – in 2024 doubled the number of the same period.

According to BBC monitoring data, the group claimed to have killed about 1,000 people in Sahel since April, most of which are fighting the security forces or the government’s forces of militias.

Approximately 800 of them are only in Burkina Faso. Mali losses were the next highest (117) and Benin (74).

“The frequency of the attacks in June has not been heard so far,” Guichaoua says. “They really increased their activities in recent weeks.”

Militants use various tactics designed to cause maximum deterioration.

“They plant IEDs [improvised explosive devices] Lock roads and long -range skills.

“Them [also] Target the security forces in military bases, so most of their weapons come from. They also attacked civilians – in cases where communities cooperate with the government. “

According to Gi -Toc’s recent report, Elon Musk, who provided the internet through satellites, was exploited by groups such as Starlink, Jnım to improve their abilities.

The company provides high -speed internet in which regular mobile networks cannot be used or unreliable.

G-toch is missing the Starlink devices of militant groups to the country along the well-established illegal roads.

“Starlink made it much easier [militant groups] An analyst of Gi-hoo-tooc said BBC’s focus on the African podcast.

BBC contacted Starlink for a comment.

The group has more than one income sources.

Once upon a time in Mali, funds were gathered with the abduction of foreigners for the ransom, but very few remained in the country due to the worsening security situation.

According to an analyst from Gi-tooc, cattle rolling has become an important source of income. They did not want to be named as they could risk their security in Mali.

“He is a large financial cattle exporter, so it is easy to play and sell animals.” He said.

Research by Gi-tooc shows that Jnim has made $ 770,000 (£ 570,000) from animal husbandry within a year in only one region of Mali. Based on this figure, Jnim may have earned millions of dollars from cattle theft.

According to experts, Jnım also brings various taxes.

“They taxes the gold, but whether the goods listed or illegal goods, they basically tax everything that passes through their regions.” Says.

He continued: “JNIM’in citizens in exchange for protection in exchange for a type of extortion can be a type of tax.”

According to Ochieng, militants are known to create bloukers to pay to go to the region and enter.

France’s armed forces have been supporting the government in Mali for almost ten years – there were more than 4,000 soldiers with the war groups of the Sahel region and the Islamic State in the Great Sahara, which continued to form Jnim.

Although they had the first success in 2013 and 2014, they did not stop the growth of JNIM after the establishment of JNIM, while killing the region by regaining the region and killing several senior commanders.

Gi-bol’s analyst, “Counter-speaking efforts have failed so far because of the idea that JNIM could be beaten militaryly, but only through negotiation that the group will end.”

In 2014, the Sahelian countries met to form the G5 Sahel Mission Force, a 5,000 -person international union group. However, for the last few years, Burkina Faso has retreated, financial and Niger, and undermined the ability of the task force to deal with rebellion.

The UN peace-protection power was in Mali to support the efforts throughout the year, but he left the country at the end of 2024.

Military coups took place in Mali in 2020 and 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger in 2023.

According to analysts, Burkina Faso allowed the development of militant groups such as weak governance JNIM, which is within the scope of military juntas in Mali and Niger.

These juntas replaced them with a common force created by Russian support and three Sahelian countries that told the French troops to be divided into troops.

Although the Russian paramilitary group has completely withdrawn Wagner troops from Mali, the African corps, a Kremlin -controlled paramilitary group, will remain in place.

In Burkina Faso, the “volunteer” army, which was initiated in 2020 before the military took over, is a strategy used to fight militants. Junta leader Ibrahim Traoré said he wanted to buy 50,000 warriors.

However, experts say that most of these volunteers are forced to accept. Inadequate education means that they are often exposed to severe losses. It is also a target for JNIM attacks.

The military Juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali was accused by human rights organizations of savagery against civilians, especially ethnic fulars. The Human Rights Group said the government generally limited the Fulani community to Islamist armed groups, which prevents peace efforts.

According to Gi-Bol, between January 2024 and March 2025, the military government and Russian allies were responsible for 1,486 civilian losses in Mali.

This extreme violence against civilians created anger against the government by providing more recruitment for Jnim.