The Nigerian military has eliminated the Nigerian leader of the Islamic State of West Africa Province, ISWAP, Ba’a Shuwa, and scores of his fighters in the northeast of Borno.
Ba’a Shuwa was the ISWAP leader of the Nigerian Wylayat, Lake Chad, Kwalfarji, Timbuktu Farouq, and Sambisa Mantika of the ISIS-affiliated ISWAP.
Reliable sources confirmed that the airstrikes carried out on January 2, 2023, at Kwatan Dilla in Abadam LGA of Borno State had led to the killing of Ba’a Shuwa and scores of his fighters.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and security analyst in the Lake Chad region, also confirmed the strike.
Sources said they saw footage of soldiers neutralising enemy elements and equipment.
Shuwa
Shuwa was appointed in 2021 after Abubakar Shekau killed himself. He was commanding terrorists in Chiralia, Markas Kauwa, Abirma, Buk, Abulam, Dusula, Abbagajiri, Gorgore, and many other camps within the Timbuktu and Alagarno axes in the south of Borno.
Some of his top commanding officers included Khaid Hanzala, Ba’a Idirisa, Rawana, Abou Ibrahim, Mallam Abubakar, Abou Aisha, and Abou Khalid. They were responsible for the recent attack on the electricity towers along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway.
Ba’a Shuwa and his groups of terrorists are mostly responsible for attacks, ambushes, and IED/mines towards Damboa roads, Damaturu-Maiduguri, Askira, Buratai, Buni Yadi, Buni Gari, Gaidam, and other parts of Borno and Yobe States.
The terrorists hibernated in highly fortified hideouts under thick foliage and rocks. They camouflaged to evade air strikes within the Timbuktu triangle.