Terrorists Turn Drones Into New Weapon of War as ISWAP, JNIM Expand Attacks Across Africa

Terrorist groups operating across Africa are rapidly transforming commercially available drones into weapons of war, raising fresh concerns about the ability of governments to protect military formations and civilian populations from an emerging form of remote warfare.
A report by the Africa Defense Forum (ADF) published in May 2026 revealed that armed drones have become increasingly important to terrorist operations in Nigeria and across the Sahel, with groups including Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) adapting inexpensive commercial quadcopters for combat operations.
The development is particularly significant for Nigeria, where ISWAP fighters reportedly used armed drones during coordinated attacks on military positions in Dikwa, Gajibo, Mafa and Katarko in late October 2025.
According to ADF, the attacks killed five Nigerian soldiers and resulted in the burning of a military base. Nigerian troops subsequently repelled the attacks and killed about 50 ISWAP fighters, but the assault demonstrated the growing role of drones in terrorist warfare.
From surveillance to suicide attacks
Unlike sophisticated military drones costing millions of dollars, terrorist groups are increasingly relying on commercially available quadcopters that can be modified for military purposes.
The drones can be used for surveillance, reconnaissance and, in some cases, converted into flying improvised explosive devices.
ADF reported that similar tactics are being employed by terrorist organisations in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Somalia, with porous regional borders facilitating the movement of technology, equipment and technical knowledge.
The report cited analysts who warned that the increasing use of drones could fundamentally change the nature of counterterrorism operations.
John Sunday Ojo, a research fellow at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, told ADF that the adoption of drones by ISWAP had contributed to the success of several recent attacks.
He warned that the region could be moving towards a form of remote warfare, where terrorists can attack military targets without exposing large numbers of their fighters to direct combat.
JNIM’s growing drone campaign
The threat extends beyond Nigeria.
According to the report, JNIM carried out its first reported kamikaze drone attack in 2023 and has since incorporated drone attacks into its operations in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
The Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South reportedly documented more than 30 drone attacks in the Sahel between September 2023 and June 2025, with 82 percent occurring between March and June 2025.
Among the reported attacks was a JNIM assault on a Malian military base in Boulikessi, which reportedly killed more than 100 soldiers.
Ukraine conflict becomes a terrorist learning laboratory
Security analysts also believe terrorists are closely watching developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, where relatively inexpensive commercial drones have become a major component of battlefield operations.
Don Rassler of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point described the Ukraine conflict as a “key learning laboratory” for groups seeking to understand how commercially available technology can be adapted for warfare.
Analysts cited by ADF said African extremist groups may not require substantial assistance from the central leadership of al-Qaida or Islamic State to develop their drone capabilities.
Instead, the technology and knowledge can be obtained locally or through publicly available online material.
AI could make the threat worse
Perhaps the most concerning development is the growing application of artificial intelligence to drone warfare.
ADF reported that some terrorist groups have experimented with so-called autonomous or “offline” drones capable of locating and attacking targets without continuous communication with a human operator.
That creates a significant challenge for conventional anti-drone systems that depend on disrupting the communication link between a drone and its operator.
The report warned that advances in AI and 3D printing could further reduce the technical barriers facing extremist organisations.
The coming threat of drone swarms
Security experts are also increasingly concerned about the possibility of terrorist organisations eventually deploying large numbers of autonomous drones simultaneously.
A coordinated swarm of dozens of drones could potentially overwhelm the defensive capabilities of military bases or other vulnerable targets.
ADF quoted Rassler describing drone swarms as a significant “watch-out area” for security planners.
While such capabilities have not yet become commonplace among African terrorist groups, experts believe technological advances could make them increasingly feasible.
Expensive military systems versus cheap terrorist technology
The report highlights what analysts describe as a major cost asymmetry.
African governments have invested millions of dollars in sophisticated military drones, including systems such as Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2 and Akinci. Terrorist organisations, meanwhile, can acquire comparatively inexpensive commercial drones and modify them for combat.
This creates a difficult security equation: governments may spend heavily on advanced military platforms while insurgents exploit cheap, readily available technology to inflict significant damage.
Traditional signal-jamming systems can also face limitations where drones operate autonomously or use technologies designed to resist electronic interference.
Nigeria faces a rapidly changing battlefield
For Nigeria, the increasing deployment of armed drones by ISWAP represents another layer in an already complex security crisis involving terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping and attacks on military and civilian targets.
The October 2025 coordinated attacks demonstrate that the drone threat is no longer merely theoretical.
The emerging pattern suggests that Nigerian security agencies may have to increasingly prepare for a battlefield where terrorist groups combine traditional insurgent tactics with commercial drones, autonomous systems and artificial intelligence.
The challenge is not simply acquiring more expensive military hardware. It also involves developing effective counter-drone capabilities, intelligence systems, surveillance networks, electronic protection and rapid-response mechanisms capable of detecting and neutralising low-cost aerial threats.
The warning from security analysts is stark: terrorist groups are adapting quickly, and the technology that once belonged largely to conventional militaries is becoming accessible to non-state actors at a fraction of the cost.
Unless governments can close that technological gap, the drone may become one of the most consequential new weapons in Africa’s expanding terrorism crisis.