The Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) terrorists have clashed, killing two Commanders and 32 fighters in Sambisa Forest of Borno.
The ISWAP coordinated attacks against Abubakar Shekau-led faction of Boko Haram; is still hibernating in the forest axis of Borno and Yobe.
A counter insurgency expert, Zagazola Makama, yesterday (Friday), in Maiduguri, stated that the separate clashes occurred at Yale in Damboa and Gargash village in Bama Council.
He added that 32 terrorists were also feared killed on both sides of the terror groups.
“Two ISWAP Khaids were killed along with four other fighters in an ambush by the rival Boko Haram faction in Yale village,” he said.
He further disclosed that they were killed on April 19, 2022, while moving at night to a newly established ISWAP camp in the forest.
Besides, he added that four other ISWAP fighters were caught alive, disarmed and slaughtered by the rival terror group.
According to him, three trucks belonging to the terrorists were also seized by Boko Haram.
Similarly, a top Boko Haram leader, Ambu Mairamiri on April 20, 2022 also led large numbers of heavily armed Boko Haram insurgents to invade an ISWAP settlement near Ngurosoye.
He said that this led to a heavy gun battle which lasted for over two hours of clashes that claimed many lives.
A military source in Maiduguri, also told The Guardian that the mutually destructive fight led to the death of about 18 ISWAP terrorists, while six Boko Haram fighters were also killed in the multiple clashes of terror groups.
Mairamiri who vowed to eliminate all ISWAP terrorists, ordered his men to set ablaze four gun trucks belonging to ISWAP as well as their newly erected makeshift tents in the forest.
The infighting between the two terrorists had taken a new dimension in the forest, as the Boko Haram continue to hunt for the ISWAP terrorists at nights.
He noted that Boko Haram terrorists are familiar with forest terrains, while ISWAP coordinates reprisal attacks during the day times.
The source added that the intensified Operation Desert and Lake Sanity had forced many ISWAP terrorists and their families to relocate to safer locations in Mandara Mountain.
Other hideouts, according to him, include Gargash, Izza, Bula Bakakai and Gobara; as well as the rock of Ngulde in Chibok council.
“The risk of exposure and battlefield elimination could increase the rate of surrender among the terrorists in the forest and Lake Chad region,” he said.
