Six ISWAP, B/haram commanders killed, 24 other fighters captured alive in renewed clashes

At least, six commanders of the Islamic State of the West African Province and the Jamā’at Ahl as-sunnah lidda’wah wa’l-jihād, Boko Haram faction and scores of ghters were said to have been killed in a gun ght between the groups at Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State.

It was gathered that angry Boko Haram elements attacked ISWAP ghters’ enclaves at Tumbum Fulani in Kangarwa axis of Kukawa in fringe of Lake Chad region on Friday.

Zagazola Makama, a Counter Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region, disclosed that the ght at Tumbun Fulani was bloody as the Boko Haram group succeeded in killing Abu Imrana, the ISWAP Commander (Khaid) of the Lake Chad, Abu Nura, Commander in Charge of the Waterways (Naval) as well as scores of their ghters.

Makama said the Boko Haram faction who carried out the attack tried to withdraw, but met strong resistance from the ISWAP counterparts who deployed more of their ghters to engage the rival group.

e source disclosed that the ISWAP overpowered the Boko Haram faction and killed four commanders and several

ghters while 24 ghters were captured alive and taken to prison.

e source added that the ISWAP group also seized several weapons from the Boko Haram group.

e JAS group, led by Ibrahim Bakura Doro (aka Bakaura Buduma), has remained a formidable enemy of ISWAP ever since Shekau’s death. It has repeatedly attacked ISWAP formations around the Lake Chad.

e deadly rivalry between the two erstwhile allies will continue unabated as the Boko Haram ghters are not prepared to surrender their supremacy or be displaced by a group they described as “usurpers.”