On Wednesday, no fewer than 41 fighters from the Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), including their commanders were killed after an in-fighting that broke out in the North East of Borno State.
We learnt that the ISWAP terrorists who came on several canoes attacked the Bakoura Buduma-led faction of Boko Haram in the axis of Duguri in Kukawa Local Government Area.
Kukawa in the Northern Borno senatorial district is about 130 km drive from Maiduguri, the state capital.
Impeccable sources informed that “the bloody encounter left 41 fighters dead on both sides including commanders of the group”.
This was also confirmed on Thursday by Zagazola Makama, a counterinsurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad region.
Makama said that the ISWAP dealt a heavy blow on the Boko Haram terrorists, leaving many of their commanders killed.
The source listed some of the commanders to include Modu Kayi, Abbah Musa, Isa Muhammed, Ibrahim Ali, Kanai Zakariya and Bula Salam, Isuhu Alhaji Umaru, Dogo Salman and Abdulrahman Malam Musa among others.
Clashes between Boko Haram and ISWAP became increasingly common and intense. Notably, in Borno state’s Sambisa forest and the Lake Chad region.
The ISWAP are said to be having an upper hand following the defection of one Abou Idris, a former chief of operation of Boko Haram, who joined ISWAP to fight his former group.
