Faith Nyasuguta
The Sahel region has become the world’s deadliest hotspot for terrorism, accounting for 51 percent of all terrorism-related deaths in 2024, according to the newly released 2025 Global Terrorism Index (GTI). Published by the Sydney-based Institute for Economics and Peace, the report highlights a dramatic surge in extremist violence across West Africa, despite declining global trends elsewhere.
The Sahel, which includes countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad, also recorded 19 percent of all global terrorist attacks. This rise represents a troubling increase from 48 percent of deaths in 2023, signaling the region’s growing fragility in the face of militant insurgency.
Burkina Faso remains the most affected country in the region. Over 1,500 people were killed in terrorist attacks there in 2024, many carried out by Jamaat Nusrat Al-Islam wal Muslimeen (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate. Despite a 21 percent decline in deaths compared to the previous year, the country’s security situation remains precarious. In nearby Niger, over 930 people lost their lives to terrorist attacks, nearly doubling the previous year’s toll. Insurgents targeted villages, military posts, and public gatherings with devastating consequences.
Nigeria also witnessed a deadly year. In one of the most horrific incidents, a brutal assault on Mafa village in Yobe State resulted in the deaths of between 100 and 150 civilians. In another attack, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) clashed with Boko Haram fighters near Lake Chad in Borno State, leaving 70 Boko Haram members and 10 ISWAP fighters dead. Meanwhile, in Mali, a coordinated strike by JNIM on a Gendarmerie school in Bamako claimed the lives of 60 soldiers.
The United Nations reports that violence has continued into 2025, with the death toll climbing further. In the first half of this year alone, new attacks have occurred in Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, and northern Togo. Experts attribute the rise in terrorism to a mix of failed governance, military coups, porous borders, and the decline of coordinated international counterterrorism efforts.
What’s particularly concerning, according to analysts, is that extremist groups are becoming bolder and better organized. The collapse of regional security arrangements such as the G5 Sahel, and a pivot by some Sahelian governments toward Russian military support, has done little to stem the violence.
Though global terrorism deaths declined by 13% in 2024, mainly due to a drop in violence in Myanmar, the Sahel has moved in the opposite direction – emerging as the epicenter of terrorism worldwide.
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