By Amobi Anieke
Nigeria is now rated as with highest number of attacks conducted by the Islamic State (IS), according to Jihad Analytics, a consultancy company which processes data on global and cyber jihad.
According the report, half of the attacks claimed by IS since the beginning of 2022 were in Africa, while the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), an affiliate of IS, is now more active in Nigeria.
Data by Jihad Analytics showed that while Nigeria has recorded a total of 162 IS operations since January 2022, Iraq has recorded 120.
“Since the beginning of the year, the Islamic State has conducted half of its attacks in Africa,” the company ststed in a tweet on Friday.
“For the first time in the history of the jihadi group, Iraq is no longer the country where IS claims the highest number of operations: the group ISWAP is now more active in Nigeria,” it said.
ISWAP, since it broke out of Boko Haram, has been terrorising mainly Nigeria’s north-East and Kaduna South.
Attacks by insurgents have resulted in the killing of thousands, while over two million people have been displaced in the region.
Meanwhile, as at March, Nigeria ranked sixth on the 2022 global terrorism index (GTI).
The ranking was viewed as a relative improvement as Nigeria dropped two places from the fourth positions — a position it had been since 2017.
However, according to the GTI report, the death of Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram, and efforts of the government to improve security contributed to factors that led to the decline of Boko Haram activities in Nigeria.
Published by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), an independent and non-profit think-tank, the report indicated that Nigeria, Syria and Somalia were among the 10 most impacted by terrorism which recorded an improvement in score from 2020 to 2021.
“Given the demise of their leader, Shekau’s followers were faced with the decision to either continue Shekau’s ideology or join ISWA.
“It has been reported that as many as former Boko Haram commanders have joined ISWA after Shekau’s death.
“Attacks by ISWA, as well as counter-terrorism efforts by the Nigerian government and foreign military forces, have significantly weakened Boko Haram’s impact in the country”.
But, in recent months, the military with its operation Hadin Kai and other operations launched against insurgents, and has reported improvements in security in affected areas.
