Islamist terror groups continued to gain strength in North, East and West Africa in the final three months of 2019, even in areas where the US military wages airstrikes and works on the ground with proxy forces, the Defense Department Inspector General for Africa said in a report on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2020) Islamist terror groups continued to gain strength in North, East and West Africa in the final three months of 2019, even in areas where the US military wages airstrikes and works on the ground with proxy forces, the Defense Department Inspector General for Africa said in a report on Tuesday.
"In East Africa this quarter, al Shabab intensified its threat to US forces and interests by conducting multiple high-profile attacks. This included an attack, just after the quarter ended, on Kenya's Manda Bay Airfield that killed three US military personnel," the report said.
Despite continued US airstrikes in Somalia and US assistance to African partner forces, al Shabab appears to be a growing threat that aspires to strike the US homeland, the report added.
In West Africa, local and international forces were also overmatched by violent extremist organizations such as Boko Haram, although the US does not lead any counterterror operations in the religion, the report said.
In North Africa, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and ISIS-Libya (both terror groups are banned in Russia) did not conduct any attacks this quarter. However, the ongoing Libyan conflict risks a resurgence by either group without steady counterterrorism pressure, the report said.
The Sahel and Lake Chad region saw at least 230 African partner nation soldiers killed this quarter by Islamist violence in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, where the terrorists are neither contained nor degraded, according to the report.
