Rival armed groups turn on each other in Burkina Faso as JNIM-ISIL fighting turns deadlier

Armed fighters from two rival groups have fought a series of increasingly deadly battles along Burkina Faso's northern border with Mali, as the government struggles to reassert control over large parts of the country and the two groups intensify their fight with each other for dominance.

The clashes are between Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, and the ISIL affiliate in Sahel Province (ISSP). Since early September, their competition for territory and influence across the borderlands has intensified. Both groups have issued competing claims of heavy casualties, although the figures released by the ISIL group remain unverified.

One of the first major confrontations took place near Kacham, close to the Mali border, in early September. ISSP claimed to have killed more than 200 JNIM fighters, captured more than 30 others and seized weapons and motorcycles. The claim has not been independently verified.

Heni Nsaibia, of the monitoring group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), said that if confirmed, the reported death toll would make it the deadliest battle recorded between the two groups.

The fighting escalated again on October 9 around Ganadaouri, in Burkina Faso's northern Oudalan province. ISIL's weekly publication, Al-Naba, subsequently claimed that more than 400 JNIM fighters had been killed. JNIM has not publicly responded to the claim, and no independent assessment has established the number of casualties.

The scale of the claim came under further scrutiny when ISSP published photographs on November 1 presented as evidence of its victory. Regional news outlet i-Sahel counted at least 120 bodies in the images but said it could not independently verify whether those pictured were victims of the reported fighting. The number visible in the photos is considerably below the 400 deaths claimed by ISIL.

The rivalry has persisted since 2019, with the two groups fighting over territory, influence and access to local populations across the Sahel. ACLED has recorded around 320 armed confrontations between them and more than 2,200 fighter deaths since the conflict began.

Alongside this infighting, JNIM continues to make gains against government forces in Burkina Faso. The International Crisis Group says the group holds extensive areas of the country, particularly in the north, north-central region, west and east. ACLED's March 2026 overview documented more than 30 JNIM attacks in Burkina Faso during a February offensive against the military and state-backed Volunteers for the Defense of the Homeland (VDP), in which more than 120 soldiers, forest guards and militia fighters were killed.

The rivalry could offer Burkina Faso's authorities some breathing room if JNIM is forced to divert fighters and resources to defend its positions against ISSP. But there is little reason to assume the infighting will translate into lasting gains for the government.

For communities caught between the armed groups and government forces, one organisation weakening another offers little certainty of relief. An estimated 4.5 million people in Burkina Faso need humanitarian assistance in 2026, according to United Nations humanitarian planning figures. The last consolidated official estimate of internal displacement, published in March 2023, put the number at approximately 2.1 million.