In a battle between Boko Haram and ISWAP, a rival terrorist organization, some 70 fighters and commanders were slain on Saturday.
Reporters were informed by reliable sources that the rivalry between the two terrorist organizations has been worse recently due to a new influx of weapons and fighters from Sahelian ISIS who are joining ISWAP in the Chad Basin to regain terrorist dominance over the area.
As a result of this development, both terrorist groups have reportedly intensified their attacks on the Niger Republic portion of the Lake Chad Basin, according to credible sources. This has forced a large number of Nigerian refugees living in the neighboring Francophone nation to return home, gradually filling the IDP camp in Damasak, Mobbar LGA of Borno State.
Each of the two competing factions has always sought to seize complete control of the Chad Basin and has even gone so far as to challenge the Multi-National Joint Task Force in an effort to do so.
Reports state that the Boko Haram-ISWAP confrontation on Saturday happened at Tumbum Ali Island in the Marte Local Government Area of Borno State at around 2:00 PM.
According to sources, ISWAP launched the strike in retaliation against Boko Haram for the group’s widespread execution of its fighters by the Buduma groups, who had taken control of most of their hideouts.
Zagazola Makama, a specialist in security and counter-insurgency in the Chad Basin, claims that four JAS elements boats and six boats from the Bakura Buduma faction—all loaded with fighters—were destroyed.
While some sources claimed that there may have been more than 60 deaths on both sides, other sources verified that as the combat went on, there may have been as many as 70 deaths overall.
With the MNJTF on the one hand and the two competing organizations on the other, the constant ISWAP-Boko Haram conflicts depict a three-pronged menace.