Country Report on Terrorism 2024 - Chapter 4 - ISIS-West Africa (ISIS-WA)

ISIS-West Africa

Aka:  Islamic State West Africa Province; ISISWAP; Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-West Africa; ISIL-WA; Islamic State of Iraq and Syria West Africa Province; ISIS West Africa Province; ISIS West Africa; ISIS-WA.

Description:  ISIS-WA was designated as an FTO on February 28, 2018.  In 2015, BH pledged allegiance to ISIS in an audiotaped message.  ISIS accepted the group’s pledge, and the group began calling itself ISIS-WA.  Infighting then split the group, which resulted in one group remaining aligned with ISIS and the other separating as BH.

Activities:  In January 2024, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on a supermarket in central Nigeria, which reportedly killed four Christians.  The group also reportedly executed three Christian men in 2024 in Nigeria’s Borno State.  ISIS-WA continued to clash with BH in the Lake Chad and Sambisa Forest areas.

Strength:  ISIS-WA was estimated to have up to 7,000 active fighters.

Location/Area of Operation:  Nigeria and the greater Lake Chad region.

Funding and External Aid:  ISIS-WA received funding from ISIS, local sources, taxes, the capture of military supplies, and kidnapping-for-ransom payments.  ISIS-WA was co-located with ISIS’s regional office (al-Furqan).

Associated documents