The International crisis group has said a third jihadist force could emerge in southwestern Niger, which remains a close and vulnerable area to banditry activities in neighboring Nigeria.

The group in a report Thursday, warned that community tensions in these areas could influence the formation of an armed group in search of new territories.

Niger is already facing two jihadist fronts which includes Boko Haram and its dissident branch – the Islamic West African State (Iswap) and its closest western part of Mali with groups affiliated to the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda. 

The report underlines that the violence exerted by these armed gangs, concentrated in the northern states of Nigeria, has been exported over the past ten years to the Nigerien regions of Maradi and Dogon-doutchi regions.

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