Terrorist turf war battle in north-eastern Nigeria leaves about 200 dead | Nigeria
Some 200 terrorists were killed in a turf war between rival jihadists in northeastern Nigeria on Sunday.
The conflict between Boko Haram and rival militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) broke out over the weekend in the Dogon Chiku village on the shores of Lake Chad, at the crossroads of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
The lake’s riverine corridors serve as operating zones for jihadists, who also invest in revenues generated by taxing fishermen, loggers and herders.
The violence was the latest in a struggle for territory and influence between groups as more non-state actors claim dominance in the wider Sahel region. According to the information obtained, it was reported that there were more personnel losses in Iswap and many boats used in the attack were seized by Boko Haram forces.
“According to the data we received, about 200 Iswap terrorists were killed in the conflict,” Babakura Kolo, a member of an illegal group working with the Nigerian army, told Agence France-Presse.
According to AFP, a Nigerian intelligence source said, “We are aware of the war and this is good news for us.” he said. The source added that the total death toll was “more than 150.”
Iswap began as a group that broke away from Boko Haram and formed an alliance with ISIS. Since the split in 2016, both groups have fought repeatedly, primarily in the Lake Chad basin region. Other groups that have since broken away from Boko Haram have drifted into other parts of northern Nigeria.
According to the UN Environment Programme, the lake has lost more than 90% of its surface area since the 1960s. As the water recedes, new highways are opened throughout the region.
Iswap has long been considered the more powerful and capable of the two groups, many analysts say, but Boko Haram has been seen as successful in its fight to occupy the Lake Chad region. Sunday’s clash was probably the deadliest of them all.
In May 2021, Iswap launched an attack on Sambisa, the forest district that has long been a base for Boko Haram and where it has kidnapped schoolgirls. Abubakar Shekau, the infamous leader of Boko Haram, is believed to have committed suicide during a clash with Iswap in Sambisa.
Between December 2022 and January 2023, Boko Haram also carried out major raids on two Iswap bases in Borno state, the birthplace of the group’s radical ideology. According to local newspapers Guardian Nigeria and Punch, more than 100 Iswap fighters were killed and 35 people were injured, while weapons were seized in warehouses.
Following the extrajudicial killing of Shekau’s predecessor, Mohammed Yusuf, in 2009, more than 40,000 people were killed and nearly 2 million displaced in jihadist conflicts in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority northeastern region.
