Nigeria: ISWAP extremists launching attack drones

The Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) is now using armed drones for attacks in Nigeria. Analysts say authorities must adopt a new counterterrorism strategy to defeat the insurgents.

Nigeria’s armed groups are entering the drone age and the state must respond - Africa at LSE

Following the Christmas Day airstrikes by the US, terrorist groups in northern Nigeria are becoming more defiant and are embracing new technology, writes Ezenwa Olumba. Counter-terrorism strategy will need to adapt to this new reality. On Christmas Day 2025, US President Donald Trump ordered air and drone strikes against insurgent groups in Sokoto State in

Radio silence: How the defence of Sudan's el-Fasher collapsed after comms blackout

Soldiers who fled the North Darfur city describe how jamming of radios and satellite phones left troops confused and isolated as the RSF attacked

Remotely Coerced Violence: 764, The Com Network, and the Hybridization of Threats - Combating Terrorism Center at West Point

Abstract: This article examines 764 and the wider Com Network as a case study in remotely coerced violence and the hybridization of contemporary terrorist and violent extremist threats. It argues that nihilistic violent extremism is best understood as a victim-driven, youth-centered online ecosystem in which status, belonging, and identity are earned through the production, circulation, … Continued

The resurgence of fortified landscapes in West Africa

West African states respond to insurgencies by building city walls and fortifying borders, balancing protection with rural vulnerabilities.

Exclusive: Long-range 'kamikaze' drones seen near RSF base could worsen conflict in Sudan

More than a dozen long-range kamikaze drones seen near an airport controlled by Sudan's Rapid Support Forces during a major air assault on army territory in May indicate the paramilitaries have new weapons that could alter the course of the war.

History Illustrated: Death from above: Drones take aim at gangs in Haiti

The use of ‘kamikaze’ drones to target gang members in crowded Haitian slums being called ‘ineffective’.

RSF-aligned politician killed by drone attack in rare assassination in Sudan war | The National

Paramilitary group blames army for lethal strike that killed founding member of coalition loyal to the RSF

It's Safer in the Front

Faced with intensifying repression and state violence, there is an understandable inclination to seek safety by avoiding confrontation. But this is not always the most effective strategy.

Drones in the African Battlespaces

C/O Futures Book ReviewLisa J. Campbell22 May 2026Addressing in their book an increasingly prescient topic, the co-editors of Drones in the African Battlespaces, have a background of research in security policy, defense, and global arms concerns. Wayne Stephen Coetzee, a senior lecturer in Political Science at the International Programme in Politics and Economics at the University West in Sweden, has focused his research on security politics, emphasizing the interactions between public and priva

Guerilla Fighters in West Papua Are Facing Extermination by Indonesia's High-Tech Forces

The West Papua National Liberation Army has resisted counterinsurgency in the Star Mountains for decades. Drop Site spoke with guerilla leader Lamek Taplo a week before he was killed.

Above the law: Drones, aerial vision and the law of armed conflict – a socio-technical approach

Shiri Krebs is Professor of Law and ARC DECRA Fellow, Deakin University, Geel

Weaponised Skies: The Expansion of Terrorist Drone Use Across Africa

Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wa al Muslimeen (JNIM) in Mali and Burkina Faso

Pro-Iran hackers claim ‘sophisticated’ attack on Bluesky

A pro-Iran hacking group that has been relentlessly targeting American companies with DDoS attacks claims it disrupted Bluesky with what the social media site called a “sophisticated” attack that…

Disrupting Dark Networks

Disrupting Dark Networks focuses on how social network analysis can be used to craft strategies to track, destabilize and disrupt covert and illegal networks. The book begins with an overview of the key terms and assumptions of social network analysis and various counterinsurgency strategies. The next several chapters introduce readers to algorithms and metrics commonly used by social network analysts. They provide worked examples from four different social network analysis software packages (UCINET, NetDraw, Pajek and ORA) using standard network data sets as well as data from an actual terrorist network that serves as a running example throughout the book. The book concludes by considering the ethics of and various ways that social network analysis can inform counterinsurgency strategizing. By contextualizing these methods in a larger counterinsurgency framework, this book offers scholars and analysts an array of approaches for disrupting dark networks.

Military Drone Proliferation Marks Destabilizing Shift in Africa’s Armed Conflicts

A revolution in unmanned drone systems is reshaping conflicts in Africa, providing militaries tactical advantages but also risks.