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A police officer and a soldier from Benin stop a motorcyclist at a checkpoint outside Porga, Benin, March 26, 2022. (AP Photo/ Marco Simoncelli, file)

Attacks by Islamic extremists are rampant in Africa’s Sahel. Here’s what we know about them

By Monika Pronczuk - Associated Press

This video grab shows Malian security personnel detaining a man after Mali's army said a military training camp in the capital Bamako has been attacked early Tuesday, Sept. 17 2024. (AP Photo)

Extremists attack a military training camp in Mali’s capital, and authorities close its airport

By Baba Ahmed - Associated Press

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud rises as judges enters the courtroom of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, June 26, 2024, where judges delivered the verdict in the trial of the suspect accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by al-Qaida-linked insurgents on the historic desert city of Timbuktu in northern Mali in 2012. Al Hassan could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted on charges including involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, enforced marriages and sexual slavery. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)

ICC convicts al Qaeda-linked leader of atrocities in Mali

By Molly Quell - Associated Press

Catholic faithful pray at the Chapelle de l'Externat Saint Paul Church in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. Ivory Coast's seemingly miraculous progression to the Africa Cup of Nations semifinals has convinced locals that God is on their side. The host nation has survived several close shaves with elimination thanks to fortune with results in other games and scarcely believable comebacks. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Ivorians say God is on their team’s side after ‘miracles’ at Africa Cup

Associated Press

FILE - Nigeriens, some holding Russian flags, participate in a march called by supporters of coup leader Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani in Niamey, Niger, on July 30, 2023. Three West African nations led by military juntas met this week to strengthen a newly formed alliance described by some analysts on Friday as an attempt to legitimize their military governments amid coup-related sanctions and strained relations with neighbors. In his first foreign trip since the July coup that brought him into power, Niger’s junta leader, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani held separate meetings Thursday Nov. 23, 2023 with his Mali and Burkina Faso counterparts. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)

A newly formed alliance between coup-hit countries in Africa’s Sahel is seen as tool for legitimacy

By Chinedu Asadu - Associated Press

FILE - United Nations peacekeepers stand guard at the entrance to a polling station covered in separatist flags and graffiti supporting the creation of the independent state of Azawad, in Kidal, Mali on July, 27, 2013. United Nations peacekeepers started departing from two bases in northern Mali Monday Oct. 16, 2023 as part of a forced withdrawal from the country amid increasing insecurity and a rise in attacks by Islamic extremists. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)

U.N. peacekeepers in Mali withdraw from two bases in the north as fighting intensifies

By Baba Ahmed - Associated Press

United Nation forces patrol the streets of Timbuktu, Mali, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. Mali’s military regime is struggling to fight growing violence in the West African nation's hard-hit northern region. That's after a peace deal signed several years ago with rebels appeared to have collapsed and as the United Nations peacekeepers who helped fight jihadi groups begin to leave. Attacks in northern Mali have more than doubled since U.N. peacekeepers completed the first phase of their withdrawal in Aug. 2023, after a decade of fighting Islamic extremists, resulting in more than 150 deaths. (AP Photo/Moulaye Sayah, File)

Mali’s junta struggles to fight growing violence in a northern region as U.N. peacekeepers withdraw

Associated Press

United Nations forces patrol the streets of Timbuktu, Mali, on Sept. 26, 2021. The United Nations is in the throes of what Secretary-General António Guterres calls an “unprecedented” six-month exit from Mali on orders of the West African nation’s military junta, which has brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group to help fight an Islamic insurgency. (AP Photo/Moulaye Sayah, File)

2 attacks by Islamist insurgents in Mali leave 49 civilians and 15 soldiers dead, military says

Associated Press

Supporters of Capt. Ibrahim Traore protest against France and the West African regional bloc known as ECOWAS in the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Oct. 4, 2022. In Sept. 2023, The era of France's arm-twisting interventionism in Africa may finally be over. France has sat by militarily despite moves by putschists to seize control of former French colonies in recent years. (AP Photo/Kilaye Bationo, File)

France’s waning influence in coup-hit Africa appears clear while few remember their former colonizer

By Jamey Keaten and Sam Mednick and Cara Anna - Associated Press

FILE - Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt attends the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London, on June 21, 2023. The Norwegian embassy in Bamako would shut down by the end of the year. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said Thursday Aug. 31, 2023 that Oslo would have ”to find other ways to follow up our interests in Mali moving forward.” The diplomatic mission was also representing Norway in Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger and Chad. (Hannah McKay/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Norway will close its embassy in Mali, citing the security situation

Associated Press

In this image taken from video, President of the Central African Republic Faustin-Archange Touadera arrives at a polling station in Bangui, Central African Republic, Sunday, July 30, 2023. Russia's Wagner Group, a private military company led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, have served as personal bodyguards for President Faustin Archange Touadera, protecting the capital of Bangui from rebel threats and helping secure a July 30 constitutional referendum that could extend his power indefinitely. Prigozhin's presumed death in a plane crash along with some of his top lieutenants raises doubts about the future of the military contractor. (AP Photo)

Russia’s Wagner mercenaries face uncertainty after the presumed death of their leader in plane crash

Associated Press

A seamster makes a Russian flag in Niamey, Niger, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Since the coup, Nigeriens have been waving Russian and Wagner flags at protests, fastening them to car windows and selling them in the streets. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Niger’s junta invites Mali and Burkina Faso to aid its defense, asks the French ambassador to leave

By Chinedu Asadu - Associated Press

Supporters of Niger's ruling junta hold a Russian flag at the start of a protest called to fight for the country's freedom and push back against foreign interference in Niamey, Niger, Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023. The march falls on the West African nation's independence day from its former colonial ruler, France, and as anti-French sentiment spikes, more than one week after mutinous soldiers ousted the country's democratically elected president. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

Niger’s junta rulers ask for help from Russian group Wagner as it faces military intervention threat

By Sam Mednick - Associated Press

FILE- A United Nations vehicle is seen on the MINUSMA Main Operations Base in Bamako, Mali, June 23, 2018. The pending pullout of U.N. peacekeepers from Mali is creating worries about what the withdrawal will mean for thousands of citizens who built livelihoods at and around the mission's bases.(Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP-File)

Malians who thrived with arrival of U.N. peacekeeping mission fear economic fallout from departure

By Zane Irwin and Baba Ahmed - Associated Press

With the headquarters of the ruling party burning in the back, supporters of mutinous soldiers demonstrate in Niamey, Niger, Thursday, July 27 2023. Not everyone is hostile to last week's coup in Niger. Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali have taken the unusual step of declaring that foreign military intervention in Niger would be a declaration of war against them, too. Both have had coups in recent years. (AP Photo/Fatahoulaye Hassane Midou)

Some of Niger’s neighbors defend the coup there, even hinting at war. It’s a warning for Africa

By Cara Anna - Associated Press

Boubacar Moussa, a former member of the Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin group, linked to al-Qaida, poses for a photo in Niamey, Niger, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023. The 47-year-old says Niger's coup will embolden violence, increase recruitment across the country and threaten regional stability. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick)

The coup in Niger will only embolden extremists, says a former jihadi fighter

By Sam Mednick - Associated Press

In this handout photo provided by Photo host Agency RIA Novosti, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at left, attends a meeting with a delegation of African leaders and senior officials in St. Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, June 17, 2023. By halting a landmark deal that allowed Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, Putin has taken a risky gamble that could badly damage Moscow's relations with many of its partners that have remained neutral or even supportive of the Kremlin amid the war in Ukraine. Russia has also played spoiler at the United Nations, vetoing a resolution on extending humanitarian aid deliveries via a key crossing point in northwestern Syria and backing Mali's push to expel the U.N. peacekeepers. Putin's decision to spike the deal could backfire against Russia's own interests, straining Moscow's relations with key partner Turkey and hurting its ties with African countries. (Pavel Bednyakov/Photo host Agency RIA Novosti via AP, File)

By pulling out of the Ukrainian grain deal, Russia risks alienating its few remaining partners

Associated Press

Members of the Wagner Group military company guard an area as others load their tank onto a truck on a street in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, Saturday, June 24, 2023, prior to leaving an area at the headquarters of the Southern Military District. Russia's rebellious mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin walked free from prosecution for his June 24 armed mutiny. In the meantime, a campaign appears to be underway to portray the founder of the Wagner Group military contractor as driven by greed. (Vasily Deryugin, Kommersant Publishing House via AP) **FILE**

Post-mutiny, Wagner Group mercenaries still a threat in Africa, Middle East

By Mike Glenn - The Washington Times

Leader of Mali's ruling junta Lt. Col. Assimi Goita, center, attends an independence day military parade in Bamako, Mali on Sept. 22, 2022. Malian voters cast ballots on a new draft constitution Sunday, June 18, 2023, in a referendum that the country's coup leader says will pave the way toward holding new elections in 2024, but that critics have called a delaying tactic. In a message broadcast on state television on the eve of the vote, Col. Assimi Goita told Malians that the proposed draft constitution “provides for a better-organized executive power, while maintaining the necessary balance with the legislative power.”. (AP Photo, File)

U.N. votes to end its peacekeeping mission in Mali as demanded by the country’s military junta

By Edith M. Lederer - Associated Press

FILE - Malians demonstrate against France and in support of Russia on the 60th anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Mali, in Bamako, Mali, Sept. 22, 2020. The Russian mercenary group that briefly rebelled against President Vladimir Putin’s authority has for years been a ruthless force-for-hire across Africa, protecting rulers at the expense of the masses. That dynamic is not expected to change now that the group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has been exiled to Belarus as punishment for the failed rebellion. Neither Russia nor the African leaders dependent on Wagner’s fighters have any interest in ending their relationships. (AP Photo/File)

Russian militia maintains ruthless role in Africa after failed rebellion

By Jean Fernand Koena, Chinedu Asadu and Zane Irwin - Associated Press