ISSP claims over 400 JNIM fighters killed in Burkina Faso — Asharq Al-Awsat

The Islamic State in the Sahel Province (ISSP) group said it had killed more than 400 fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked JNIM group in Oudalan province in northern Burkina Faso. The combat area is located near the borders with Mali and Niger. The claimed death toll has not been independently verified, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

Escalation of the confrontation

ISSP reported JNIM losses in clashes that occurred four days before its statement. According to the West African journalists’ collective Wamaps, the latest fighting between the groups began on October 9 in the border area of the three countries.

ACLED monitoring organization analyst Héni Nsaibia said that, if confirmed, these figures would make it the deadliest single battle between the two groups. In early September, ISSP also claimed that more than 200 people had been killed in fighting in the same area.

According to Nsaibia, from 2019 through September 2026, JNIM and ISSP fought more than 320 battles, resulting in approximately 2,200 deaths. The clashes, which had previously been largely limited to Mali and Burkina Faso, have in recent months spread to western Niger and northwestern Nigeria.

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Struggle for border areas

Wassim Nasr, an expert on extremist groups and a senior research fellow at The Soufan Center, linked the confrontation to a struggle for control of the border area of the three countries, operational territories and recruitment sources. Both coalitions seek influence over local populations and control of routes in the Sahel.

According to UN experts’ assessment, JNIM remains the main terrorist threat in the Sahel, despite ISSP’s claims of significant losses by its rival. JNIM’s strength is estimated at 7,000–8,000 fighters, while the Islamic State group in the region is estimated to have around 2,000 members.

Sahel specialist Hasret Kargin said there was substantial evidence that JNIM had deployed additional reinforcements to the combat area from other regions. He predicted that the group could launch harsh counterattacks in the coming days. UN experts called the current fighting the most intense direct confrontation in the world between an al-Qaeda affiliate and an ISIS-linked group.