ISWAP kills 200 Boko Haram terrorists, families in Borno
The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terror group has killed over 200 Boko Haram terrorists and their families in a deadly rivalry clash in the northeast of Gudumbali, Borno State.
The clashes between the Choliye terror groups on February 26 and 27, 2023, also resulted in the deaths of many Boko Haram women and children.
Zagazola Makama, an expert on fighting insurgencies in the Lake Chad region, said yesterday in Maiduguri that the terrorists and their families were killed as they tried to escape ISWAP attacks in the Gudumbali-Kukawa area of the state.
He said that ISWAP went after Boko Haram strongholds in the Gaizuwa Community in the Bama Local Government Area. This community is made up of the villages of Mantari, Gabchari, Kashimiri, and Maimusari.
A military source in Maiduguri also said that the attacks had forced hundreds of Boko Haram fighters to leave their homes.
A military source also said, “The terrorists scrambled to safety and ran towards the Mandara Mountains in the Gwoza Local Council, where they hid in caves.”
Makama also said that other terrorists ran away to Konduga, Mafa, and Dikwa local councils, as well as Gajiram town and the shores of Lake Chad.
He said that Abbah Tukur, the Khaid of Mantari and Maimusari, Abu Isa, the Khaid of Ngauri, Ali Hajja Fusami, the newly appointed Khaid of Garin Abu Ikliima, and Abu Ali are some of the Boko Haram commanders who ran away because ISWAP was a better fighter.
“ISWAP terrorists immediately mobilised more fighters to go after the fleeing Boko Haram terrorists,” he said, adding that they were later intercepted at Choliye village, and ISWAP fighters fired at 200 terrorists without sparing their families, including women and children.
He also said that the attacks against Boko Haram were still going on in the Asinari, Ashanari, and Masarmari areas of Konduga, where many fighters were killed.
On March 1, 2023, he said that the many attacks were planned by Ba’ana Chingori of ISWAP.
Continued: “In Yale, a village in Konduga Local Council, Modu Bashir Okocha, an ISWAP commander, led another team of fighters to attack another Boko Haram position.
He said that this led to the killing of 15 Boko Haram terrorists with seizures of weapons and motorcycles.
“The onslaughts had forced hundreds of Boko Haram terrorists and their families to surrender to the troops of Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) in Mafa, Konduga councils, and other parts of the theatre of war,” said Makama.
He said that some of them were able to escape through Mafa town to Dikwa Abadam Local Councils and the Niger Republic on the shores of Lake Chad.
On other hideouts of terrorists, he said: “Some of the fighters escaped to the camp of Bakura Wulgo, aka Abou Oumaymah, in the Marte-Krenowa axis.”
“While some people ran to the Mandara Mountains in Gwoza to get away from Ali Ngulde and safety,
“The fights between Boko Haram and ISWAP seem to go on forever, as the two groups can’t seem to work together against the Nigerian military and the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).”
According to him, the two terrorist organisations have not been able to acquire the necessary personnel and equipment to continue committing crimes.
Instead, the two rival terrorist groups kept attacking each other, killing a lot of people in the process.
He said on December 6, 2022, Boko Haram carried out one of the most devastating attacks, killing 33 wives of ISWAP militants in Sambisa Forest.
On December 31, 2022, a faction of Boko Haram attacked an armoury base of the ISWAP at Toumbum, Allura Kurnawa, and Kangar on the shores of Lake Chad.
According to him, Bakoura led the attack, resulting in the killing of several ISWAP terrorists and the seizure of a large number of weapons.
He said this led the ISWAP leadership, Imam Abu Mosab Albarnawi, to flee from Nigeria to Somalia, Mali, and Burkina Faso to seek the support of other terrorist partners.
His words: “The fleeing of Albarnawi from Nigeria was to save their self-acclaimed Caliphate from collapsing,” he said.
“The task ahead of the newly elected president will focus on a full-time military offensive in the Lake Chad region, including parts of Niger and Cameroon.”
