This month’s In Focus analyzes the three coordinated PBIED attacks in Nigeria targeting a wedding, a funeral and a hospital, which claimed the lives of at least 32 people, with at least 30 others injured. According to witnesses, at least one of the attacks was perpetrated by female suicide bombers – a rare trend that has been associated with Boko Haram (officially known as Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad, JASDJ.) Although the attack has not been claimed, it is suspected the veteran jihadi group stands behind it. In the past two months, the Islamic State West Africa Province has maintained a high level of activity, claiming several SVBIED attacks against positions of the Nigerian Army and the Multinational Joint Task Force. On the one hand, the escalation in SVBIED attacks by ISWAP is not unusual. The coordinated triple PBIED attack, on the other hand, is a rare and concerning development. These attacks indicate global jihadi networks in the state of Borno are successfully maintaining their threat against military forces and are able and willing to facilitate and implement complex suicide bombing attacks against civilian targets, rather than the usual mass raid attacks.
Al-Shabaab – the Al-Qaeda branch that operates in Somalia – recently released a video introducing its newly established Special Forces unit and their basic training exercise in “The Sheikh Usama Bin Laden Military Academy.” The video features various small and heavy weapons known to be used by the group. At the same time, new reports quoting US intelligence sources suggest Al-Shabaab is in talks with Yemen’s Ansar Allah (the Houthi militia) regarding the possibility of weapons transfers from Yemen to Somalia. The overall relationship between Iran and its proxy groups and between Al-Qaeda and its affiliates is strained and complex. For now, there is no visual evidence to confirm any sophisticated Houthi or Iranian weapons have been used by Al-Shabaab, yet there are existing illicit networks that can enable arms transfers between the actors, should these talks blossom into cooperation.
In June 2024, the Islamic State-affiliated Al-Saqri Foundation for Military Sciences published a 38-page survival guide document that provides a simple, yet comprehensive understanding of knowledge and practical skills aimed at enhancing stealth and survivability for IS military operatives in non-urban environments. By dissecting both the content and larger strategic methodologies conveyed via Islamist publications such as this one, we have provided insights and commentary on the various trends, changes, and implications they retain.
This month’s Who’s Who? analyzes a Facebook profile that belongs to an eager Islamic State East Africa Province supporter from the Philippines. His activity on Facebook indicates his clear support for ISEAP, as he tries to promote the contents of the organization on a daily basis and encourages people to emigrate to the Philippines and join the group.
This month’s Instant Messaging Applications analysis focuses on a Mauritanian phone number that participates in several radical WhatsApp group affiliated with the Islamic State and on a WhatsApp group affiliated with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which has members with several different country code numbers, including an American and several European country code numbers.
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