North Africa’s Security
Security | Defense | Terrorism
Morocco Allegations Reignite Spain’s Pegasus Debate
New reporting has revived scrutiny of the 2021 Pegasus intrusion targeting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s phone, focusing on the Ceuta visit as a potential operational opening and renewing debate over attribution, accountability, and Spain’s wider relationship with Morocco, including questions raised by Morocco’s growing security ties with Israel.
SECURITY & DEFENSE
Sahel: 29 Niger soldiers killed by suspected jihadists
Twenty-nine soldiers were killed in western Niger in an attack by suspected jihadists, the defence ministry said on Monday night, declaring a three-day national mourning period. The soldiers were targeted using "improvised explosive devices and kamikaze vehicles by...
Mali preparing offensive against Tuareg fighters in north of the country
A Malian army convoy was moving closer towards the northern rebel stronghold Kidal on Tuesday, following a resumption of hostilities in the region, military and official sources said. A local official and a soldier in the column, speaking on condition of anonymity,...
Niger: Dozen soldiers killed in Jihadist attack in Tijane
A terrorist attack took place in the Tijiane region, Niger, on September 29, 2023, resulting in the death of 13 people, 12 of whom were soldiers. A Nigerien military unit was attacked by terrorists while patrolling the area. Seven of the soldiers died in combat and...
Sahel: Burkina’s new leader de-emphasizes importance of election
Elections in Burkina Faso are "not a priority" compared to "security", the country's military leader Captain Ibrahim Traore said Friday on state TV, almost a year to the day after coming to power in a coup. Traore, who had promised a return to democracy with...
Sahel: Full-blown war in central and north Mali
Tuareg-dominated separatist groups said on Saturday that they had inflicted heavy losses on the Malian military in an attack in the troubled country's centre. The rebels said they had counted 98 dead soldiers. The claim came in a statement from the Permanent Strategic...
Mali: Al-Qaeda offshoot intensifies attacks on Mali army
@northafricajournalMali #Lere: An attack on two #military camps in northern #Mali claimed by #Touaregs killed five #soldiers, while 11 others are missing. https://North-Africa.com ♬ original sound - The North Africa Journal The Malian army has reported attacks on two...
Sahel: Mali buries officer killed crash
Mali's ruling junta on Wednesday paid tribute to a lieutenant colonel who relatives say was killed aboard a plane that crashed Saturday in the northern city of Gao. The comments were the first the authorities appear to have made about the incident, which is believed...
Sahel: Mali warns ECOWAS against military action in Niger
Mali "will not stand idly by" if foreign governments intervene in neighouring Niger, Bamako's top diplomat warned the United Nations on Saturday, after both countries' juntas joined a mutual defense pact. Rebel elite soldiers overthrew Niger's president Mohamed Bazoum...
Sahel: Niger bans French aircraft from its airspace
Niger's military rulers have banned "French aircraft" from flying over the country's airspace, according to the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) website. Niger's airspace is "open to all national and international commercial...
Sahel: French President makes pragmatic decision to step away from Niger
French withdrawals from Africa After Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic, France is being forced to withdraw troops from yet another former African colony that pivoted to Russia after souring on Paris: Niger. Faced with growing anti-French sentiment...
INSURGENCIES & TERRORISM
Libya: New militia violence in Tripoli
A night of clashes between militias in the heart of a residential district of the Libyan capital Tripoli raised fears on Saturday of escalating violence in the conflict-riven country. The intense fighting that erupted late Friday between two armed groups that back...
Sahel: Mali launches military offensive to retake town of Anderamboukane from insurgents
Malian forces and local armed groups have launched a bid to recapture a jihadist-held border town in a region where hundreds of civilians have died in the past few months, sources there say. Fighting has been unfolding over the last few days at the strategic town of...
Burkina Faso: Terror attack on Karma mine leaves two dead
Unidentified gunmen on Thursday killed a soldier and a civilian in an attack on a gold mine in northern Burkina Faso, a security source said. The pre-dawn attack at the Karma mine near Ouahigouya saw "several dozen armed men, probably terrorists" raid the facility's...
Togo: Al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM claims May attack in Togo
A Mali-based coalition of Al-Qaeda aligned militants has claimed responsibility for an attack in Togo last month, the SITE Intelligence monitoring group said on Friday. The Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) has been expanding geographically, threatening...
Sahel: Six killed in attacks on Burkina security forces
Two soldiers and four civilian volunteers with Burkina Faso's security forces have been killed in clashes with suspected jihadists, army headquarters said on Thursday. A soldier and four Volunteers for the Defence of the Fatherland (VDP) were killed on Thursday in...
Sahel: Three foreign nationals kidnapped in Mali
Armed men have kidnapped an Italian couple and their child as well as a Togolese national in southeastern Mali, a local official and a Malian security source told AFP Friday. They said the abductions occurred late Thursday about 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the...
Mali withdraws from G5 Sahel security force
Mali's junta announced Sunday that it will quit a West African anti-jihadist force after it was blocked from assuming the presidency of the regional group. The country's departure from the G5 Sahel security force deepens its isolation after its neighbours hit it with...
Sahel: North and south Burkina Faso attacked this weekend
Around 40 people, many of them civilian volunteers with the army, have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks in Burkina Faso, local sources and security officials said on Monday. In the northern region of Sahel, around 25 people were killed in two assaults on...
Libya: Violent clashes in west Tripoli
Violent clashes rocked a western area of the Libyan capital overnight and until Sunday morning, an interior ministry source said, as local media reported the death of a militia commander. Janzour, on the western outskirts of Tripoli, is home to the headquarters of...
Sahel terror spreads to Togo with new attack in Kpinkankandi
Eight soldiers were killed on Wednesday and 13 wounded in a "terrorist attack" in northern Togo near the border with Burkina Faso, the government said, using a term typically designating jihadists. Togo's troops are deployed in the north of the country to try and...