No fewer than 200 Boko Haram fighters, including women and children, were killed by the Islamic State of the West Africa Province (ISWAP) in a deadly rivalry clash in the Gudumbali Local Government Area of Borno State.

It was gathered that the ISWAP insurgents targeted hundreds of the Boko Haram terrorists and their families at Choliye village, located in the northern part of the state, while fleeing ISWAP attacks.

Zagazola Makama, a Counter-Insurgency Expert and Security Analyst in Lake Chad, reported how the terrorists fled their enclaves between February 26 and 27, 2023, amidst deadly attacks targeting their enclaves in Gaizuwa, otherwise known as Mantari, Gabchari, Kashimiri, and Maimusari in Bama Local Government Area of the state.

A military source familiar with the development told Makama that the sustained attacks had led to the dislodgement of hundreds of the fighters.

The sources said the Boko Haram terrorists, who scampered to safety, ran towards the Mandara Mountains in the Gwoza axis to seek refuge. In contrast, others fled towards Konduga, Mafa, Dikwa, Gajiram, and the Lake Chad shores.

Some of the surviving Boko Haram leaders who fled the attack due to the ISWAP’s superior fighting capacity included Abbah Tukur, the Khaid of Mantari and Maimusari; Abu Isa, Khalid of Ngauri; Alhaji Ali Hajja Fusami, the newly appointed Khalid of Garin Abu Ikliima and Abu Ali, among others.

According to multiple sources, ISWAP immediately mobilised more fighters to go after the fleeing Boko Haram, who were later intercepted at Choliye village, where they opened fire and killed 200 of them, including their family members, mostly women and children.

The source said that the onslaught against Boko Haram continued in the Asinari, Ashanari, and Masarmari areas in Konduga, where scores of the fighters were killed in the attacks coordinated on March 1 by one Ba’ana Chingori of the ISWAP.

In Yale, a village in Konduga LGA, ISWAP Commander Modu Bashir Okocha led another team of ISWAP to attack another Boko Haram position and, as a result, killed 15 of them, seizing their weapons and motorcycles.

The fierce onslaught had forced hundreds of the Boko Haram fighters and their families to surrender to the troops of Operation Hadin Kai in Mafa, Konduga, and other parts of the theatre while some of them managed to flee through Mafa to Dikwa, Abadam, as well as the Niger Republic in the Lake Chad region.

Some of the fighters escaped to the camp of Bakura Wulgo, a.k.a Abou Oumaymah, in the axis of Marte and Krenowa. In contrast, others ran to the Mandara Mountains in Gwoza to seek refuge and protection from Ali Ngulde.

The ongoing rivalry clash between JAS and ISWAP seems unending as several efforts by the groups to merge forces against the Nigerian military, and Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) appear impossible.

So far, ISWAP and Boko Haram have failed to increase the workforce and equipment needed to sustain their nefarious activities as they attacked each other, inflicting heavy casualties among themselves.

On December 6, 2022, Boko Haram carried out one of the most devastating attacks, killing 33 wives of Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP) militants in Sambisa Forest.

On December 31, a faction of Boko Haram attacked an armory base of the ISWAP at Toumbum Allura Kurnawa and Kangar by the shores of Lake Chad. Bakoura led the attack, resulting in the killing of several ISWAP terrorists and the seizure of a large number of weapons.

Against this backdrop, the ISWAP leadership led by its IMAM Abu Mosab Albarnawi fled Nigeria to Somalia, Mali, and Burkina Faso to seek the support of other terrorist partners to save their self-acclaimed Daula from collapsing.

Due to its in-house leadership crisis, the Boko Haram faction has been on the receiving end within the past few weeks. The sack of Mallam Ibrahim Shuwa, aka IKIRIMA, and the appointment of Alhaji Ali Hajja Fusami by Ali Ngulde as a commander did not go well with many fighters within Sambisa Forest who were believed to be undermining the JAS groups.

The task ahead of the newly elected president of Nigeria will focus on a full-time military offensive around the shores of the Lake Tchad sub-region, including part of the Niger Republic and Cameroon. (THISDAY)

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