About 40 combatants and commanders were killed in a clash between Boko Haram and its rival terrorist group, Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) that started on December 15 and ended on December 17 in the northeastern Nigerian state of Borno, close to Lake Chad.
The Boko Haram–ISWAP clash, according to Zagazola Makama, saw ISWAP deploy heavily armed fighters on canoes to the Boko Haram-dominated territories in Kukawa county of Borno. The mission was to take control of the territory.
Boko Haram and ISWAP have been engaged in a struggle for control of the three states adjacent to Lake Chad: Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno in Northeast Nigeria since 2015 when Abu Musab Al Barnawi was expelled from Boko Haram by the Abubakar Shekau faction.
However, in 2021, the Al Barnawi faction launched an attack on the Shekau faction resulting in the death of Shekau. Since then, ISWAP has successfully dominated the Northeast enclave of the defunct Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) insurgency.
During the renewed fight, both sides recorded casualties, but Boko Haram lost several fighters. At the end of the battle, the Boko Haram Buduma faction in Tumbum Ali and Kadunan Ruwa fled their shelters in defeat.
—Ezinwanne Onwuka reports for TruthNigeria from Abuja.
