IS steps up attacks on Nigeria bases

ISLAMIST militants have ramped up an insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria and attacked dozens of fortified army bases since the start of the year, setting back President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to restore security in Africa’s most populous nation.

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There were 45 verified incidents in May, the most since the same month in 2020, data collated by risk-analysis company Seerist shows. Most were linked to a group known as Islamic State West Africa Province, or Iswap, an Islamic State affiliate that emerged in 2016. The most recent incursion was staged in the north-eastern Borno state on May 26.

The group had been trying to expand into central Nigeria, but has now refocused its operations on the north-east, according to Mikolaj Judson, a Lagos-based analyst at consultancy Control Risks. That’s allowing them to “carry out more co-ordinated and large-scale attacks”, he said.