443 Boko Haram Members Surrender After Clash With ISWAP

At least 443 more Boko Haram terrorists and their family members who escaped the week-long sustained massive attacks by the Islamic State of West Africa fighters in Borno State have surrendered to troops.

This is as death toll on Boko Haram members following the ISWAP attack has risen to 300.

A total of 223 of the Boko Haram elements surrendered to troops of the Multi National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) in Diffa and Gueskerou in the  Republic of Niger between March 7 and 10.

Another 220 members of the  Boko Haram terrorists surrendered to troops of Operations Hadin Kai on March 10. They revealed that the ongoing rivalry between both factions had forced them to escape to safer areas.

Since February  27, 2023,  Boko Haram members have been fleeing their enclaves amidst deadly attacks targeted at the group in Gaizuwa, otherwise known as Mantari, Gabchari, Kashimiri, Maimusari in Bama, Yale in Konduga and Magumeri, by their former allies now turned bitter adversary.

In one of the attacks led by three notorious ISWAP commanders comprising Mallam  Abubakar Maina, Qaed Malam Dahiru, Qaed Mallam Dahiru in Guzamala, over 200 Boko Haram militant jihadists, including their women and children were eliminated.

The onslaught against the group continued on March 8 when more than 100 of them were killed on the fringes of Baga, Marte and Dikwa. This time, the terrorists targeted only men, sparing their families.

According to Zagazola Makama,  a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad, the government of Republic of Niger through its public relations and information directorate said the week was marked by  displacement of several families of terrorists leaving the Sambisa forest for Lake Chad on the Niger side.

The director, Defence Media Operations of Nigeria’s Defence Headquarters, Maj.-Gen. Musa Danmadami, placed the number of surrendered Boko Haram members within the last two weeks at 1,332. This figure has increased in the following days.

It is left to be seen how the deadly rivalry between Boko Haram and their erstwhile partners in battle, ISWAP, will shape the dynamics of the more than a decade-long bloody insurgency in the Lake Chad region.