Wednesday 18/February/2026 – 12:31 PM
issued Al-Azhar Observatory To combat extremism, its monthly index on the security landscape in the West and Sahel region of Africa, during January 2026.
A sharp increase in the rates of terrorist operations
The analysis revealed that the region continues to be the most dangerous hotbed of terrorism globally, with a sharp increase in the rates of terrorist operations and the number of victims compared to last December, especially in Nigeria, Niger and Mali.
The Observatory explained that extremist organizations began the new year by escalating the strategy of “community terrorism” through mass kidnappings and targeting government facilities, in exchange for intense military efforts that succeeded in neutralizing hundreds of terrorist elements.
According to the Observatory, this month witnessed a qualitative shift in the intensity of attacks, and the numbers were distributed as follows: 25 total terrorist operations carried out during the month, 147 dead were victims of terrorist attacks, 64 were injured as a result of various operations, 196 people were kidnapped in one incident in Nigeria, and 11 terrorist operations targeted Nigeria alone, leaving 79 dead and 60 injured, 7 specific attacks that occurred in Niger. It targeted officials and sovereign facilities, resulting in 48 deaths and the injury of 4 others. There were 3 terrorist operations witnessed in Burkina Faso, resulting in 18 deaths, and 2 attacks recorded by the security scene in Mali, which resulted in the deaths of two people but no casualties. Benin and Senegal did not witness any terrorist attacks, which indicates a relative improvement in the security environment and the effectiveness of the preventive measures adopted.
Counter-terrorism efforts
According to what was published by the Observatory, the regular forces in the Sahel countries intensified their pre-emptive operations, and the confrontations resulted in the following results: 18 military operations carried out by the regular forces in the region, 16 military operations concentrated in the state of Niger alone, 82 terrorists were neutralized (dead) during the confrontations, 140 terrorist elements were arrested, and 2 military operations carried out by the Nigerian forces.
The Observatory said that the comparison shows a significant surge in the pace of violence and military operations with the beginning of the new year: 25 terrorist operations in January compared to 14 operations in December, 147 killed in January compared to 34 killed in December, 196 kidnapped in January compared to 102 kidnapped in December, 182 terrorists neutralized in January compared to 158 in December, 140 terrorists arrested in January compared to 81 in December.
The Observatory confirmed that the security scene during the month of January 2026 reflects a number of profound strategic implications that shape the features of the conflict in the region, “the strategy of societal terrorism.” The shift towards mass kidnapping and targeting of villages and places of worship indicates that the organizations are seeking to break trust between the citizen and the state, and create a state of societal confusion while providing quick sources of funding via ransom, and targeting sovereign symbols, as the organizations deliberately carried out specific attacks against officials and sensitive facilities (such as Niamey Airport) to send symbolic messages aimed at showing the state’s inability. About protecting its official institutions, and despite the success in neutralizing large numbers of terrorists, the continuation of the attacks proves the ability of these organizations to adapt and reposition, taking advantage of the common borders and the rugged geographical nature.
The Al-Azhar Observatory indicated that the current scene perpetuates the pattern of a “war of attrition,” stressing that the military confrontation, despite its necessity and achieving tangible results in neutralizing the leaders, requires parallelism with comprehensive developmental and intellectual paths to block the attempts of organizations to exploit poverty and the fragility of services in rural and border areas to reposition themselves.
