Who are the jihadists using the Sahel as a hunting ground?

The rival ISSP is linked to the Islamic State group and was created two years earlier by Moroccan jihadist Adnan Abou Walid Al-Sahraoui, who was killed in Mali in 2021 by a French military anti-jihadist force.

Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad -- in the Lake Chad Basin -- are battling two other jihadist groups: Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP).

- Where are they active? -

The groups mainly roam rural areas. "Controlling the towns is very difficult for them," International Crisis Group researcher Ibrahim Yahaya told AFP.

From their camps in the bush, they use intimidation tactics such as abduction and killings to menace villagers and organise attacks on towns, Yahaya said.

The JNIM has a wide presence in Mali, Niger and Burkina and is increasingly extending its influence towards the northern parts of the Gulf of Guinea countries.

"The group plans to make new areas of instability on the borders of Burkina Faso with Benin and Togo," Seidik Abba, head of the International Centre of Reflection and Studies on the Sahel, said.

The ISSP is concentrated in the border area encompassing Mali, Burkina and Niger.

The group "struggles to expand" because of the JNIM which is "militarily stronger" and has more local support, Liam Karr, analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, said.

- Their objectives? -

Their ambitions differ. The ISSP follows the hard line of the Islamic State group, using indiscriminate violence against civilians and soldiers with the aim of establishing an Islamic caliphate in the Sahel under Sharia law.

The JNIM also carries out deadly attacks but seeks local footholds by presenting itself as the defender of marginalised communities.

"In the JNIM narrative, there is the reference to the Islamic ideology, but linked to forms of local demands," said Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute in Dakar.

"While the Islamic State has remained in a form of global jihad that is failing to take root in local communities," he added.

Islamic State frequently broadcasts videos showing violence committed by security forces and their allies in order to legitimise its discourse, a UN Security Council report said this month.

There is often violent rivalry between the groups.

- How do they recruit fighters? -

The jihadist groups exploit social and ethnic tensions to enlist fighters.

The JNIM, initially composed of Fulani, a community of mainly semi-nomadic herders, and of ethnic Tuaregs, has widened its base to include other communities, in particular ethnic Bambaras.

Exact figures are difficult to estimate, but according to a UN report in July last year, the JNIM has 5,000-6,000 fighters and the ISSP 2,000-3,000.

Their weaponry comes largely from the armies of the region and was pillaged during attacks, or from arms trafficking from Libya.

Financing ranges from kidnappings, especially of Westerners, to the theft and resale of cattle and forcing locals to pay the "zakat", an Islamic tax.

- Their modus operandi? -

The jihadist groups use ambush, abduction, long-range shelling, improvised explosive devices and recently started using drones to drop explosives.

Civilians suspected of collaboration with the army are kidnapped or killed.

Jihadists also impose embargos, burn harvests and abduct community leaders to force villagers into submission.

The response of the region's armies has proven limited as the groups are constantly on the move and feed on local grievances.

Mali, Burkina and Niger have formed the Alliance of Sahel States confederation and said they will soon set up a 5,000-strong anti-jihadist force.

"At a time when the Sahelian armies are killing 3,000 jihadists, 12,000 others are being recruited," Abba, head of the International Centre of Reflection and Studies on the Sahel, said.

"So, if we do not solve the problem of youth unemployment in these countries, they will remain at the mercy of jihadist groups," he added.