Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters engaged each other in a leadership tussle in which many of their fighters were killed, an Oaeda-linked media outfit, Al Thabat has reported.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier-General MM Yerima on Monday.
He said that the fighting started in Sunawa, a town on the Nigeria-Niger border.
The Army statement quoted Al Thabat as saying in a statement that “Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihad, commonly known as Boko Haram, killed Islamic State West Africa Province insurgents in the village of Sunawa on the Nigeria-Niger border.
“The battle occurred after ISWAP abducted dozens of women linked to Boko Haram. The group subsequently attacked the ISWAP base and rescued the women.
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“It will be recalled that ISWAP broke off from the Shekau led Boko Haram in 2016, and since then, bitter war of attrition and violent confrontations between both factions have been recurrent.”
According to the Army, the latest incident has once again exposed the “disorganized and disoriented nature of these criminals”.
The Army statement further read, “The Nigerian Army in recent Operations under the leadership of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Major General Ibrahim Attahiru, has continued to dismantle all logistics and operational bases of the insurgents along the Lake Chad Basin axis and Sambisa forest area.
“The troops in one of its operations along Sambisa forest discovered and destroyed Abubakar Shekau’ farm and rescued abducted victims.
“The Nigerian Army wishes to use this medium to reassure Nigerians of the determination of troops to clear the remnants terrorists out of the Nigerian territory.”