60 Boko Haram, ISWAP fighters slain in fresh fight

By Hannah Nathan, Warri

There have been reported multiple deaths in a recent infighting in Borno State between members of the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) and Jam’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihd, also known as Boko Haram.

Zagazola Makama, a security analyst and counter-insurgency specialist in Lake Chad, revealed this on Saturday in a post on his social media platform X.

He claimed that if the infighting persisted, there may have been over 60 deaths on both sides.

According to Zagazola, at around 1400 hours, a fierce battle between the two factions occurred at Tumbum Ali Island in Marte LGA, resulting in the deaths of the warring groups’ leaders.

He claimed that the attack was a reprisal for the Buduma factions’ widespread murder of ISWAP fighters, who had taken control of most of their hiding places.

He wrote: “During an infighting in the northeast of Borno State, numerous fighters from the Jam’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihd, Boko Haram, and the Islamic State of West African Province, ISWAP, terrorists, including their commanders, were killed.

According to reports, at around 1400 hours, a fierce altercation broke out between the two groups at Tumbum Ali Island in Marte LGA.

Six boats belonging to the Bakura Buduma faction and four JAS elements boats, all loaded with fighters, were destroyed, according to intelligence sources that Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad region, was informed.

“The sources said the casualties on both sides could be more than 60 as the infighting continued.”