Jihadists Have Killed Tens of Thousands Across 18 African Countries
Islamic militant groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda continue to fan across the continent
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By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh on Jul 22, 2015 at 16:17 PM
The recent terror attacks in Tunisia and Egypt represent only a fraction of terrorist killings committed throughout Africa in the last few years, according to recent statistics published in the Economist.
The figures, compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, reveal just how far Islamist militants have stretched across the continent. Extremist groups affiliated with ISIS and al-Qaeda and other networks have now committed bombings, shootings and massacres in 18 African countries. All told, extremists killed nearly 15,000 people in 2014 and more than 11,000 since the beginning of this year, according to ACLED, which tracks political violence.
While the bulk of these attacks have come from Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Somalia’s Al Shabab, ACLED’s data shows that new cells have cropped up from Cameroon to Uganda, and they’ve traveled as far south as Tanzania.
“A distinct flavor of poisonous thinking has spread across thousands of miles,” writes The Economist. “Islamism is the continent’s new ideology of protest.”
http://www.vocativ.com/news/214214/jihadists-have-killed-tens-of-thousands-across-18-african-countries/
