Nigeria, July 14 -- At least 15 confirmed Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) attacks have targeted military outposts across the Lake Chad region this year. Common to this campaign, which the group calls Camp Holocaust, is that the targets were isolated, under-resourced, and often in border zones where state presence is lacking.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) research shows that in May, ISWAP overran Nigeria's 27 Task Force Brigade in Buni Gari and 50 Task Force Battalion in Marte, and mounted a twin assault on the Nigeria-Cameroon joint base in Wulgo and Cameroon's Soueram outpost.

These locations - like those hit earlier this year in Malam Fatori and Goniri, among others - were civilian communities situated far from forti...