Military airstrikes kill ISWAP commander, others in Borno
By Njadvara MUSA, Maiduguri
The Military airstrikes of the Air Task Force (ATF), Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), has neutralized the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) Commander, Muhammed Malik in the Sabon Tumbun axis of Borno state.
Malik and other terrorists were killed on November 24, 2022, in an intelligence-led aerial and ground joint operations of the Nigerian Army and two Air Force Super Tucano fighter jets.
A counter-insurgency expert, in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, stated in Maiduguri that fighter jets targeted the jihadist terror group’s strategic human and material capacity at the Sabon Tumbun hideouts.
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According to him, this led to the killing of unspecified number of terrorists in the Lake Chad region.
Besides, he disclosed that Malik died on November 29, 2022, from the fatal injuries sustained in the joint coordinated military airstrikes.
On the roles of the Commander, Makama said; “Malik was among the top leaders of ISWAP and was a member of the Shura Council in Marte before he went for a course on Computer Engineering and Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) making,” stating that he was sponsored by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Somalia.
Continued: he explained that on his return, Malik established IEDs training units where fighters are nurtured in deploying explosives in the various attacks in the region.
“Malik’s death was another painful blow to ISWAP as it continues to suffer devastating loss of its top leadership,” adding that it also includes the foot soldiers and armory base.
He said that the feats against the terrorists were achieved with the sustained combine regional counter-insurgency operations of OPHK and the Multi-National Joint Task Forces (MNJTF).
“About five-speed boats conveying Mujahideens and ISWAP leaders which dispatched from the axis of Kukawa and Abadam arrived Sabon Tumbum on November 29 to commiserate with other militants over Malik’s death,” he noted,
He added that other fighters from Kaduna Ruwa and Bakkassi axis in Cameroon also arrived at Sabon Tumbu to observed prayers for the dead terrorists.
