No fewer than 443 Boko Haram jihadists including their family members surrendered to Nigerian troops following a deadly attack by fighters of their breakaway faction, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Zagazola Makama, a security analyst and counter-insurgency expert, disclosed that the death toll on the side of Boko Haram fighters has risen to 300.
“A total of 223 of the Boko Haram elements surrendered to the troops of Sector Multi-National Joint Task Force(MNJTF) in Diffa and Gueskerou in the Republic of Niger between 7 to 10th March 2023,” the analyst said. “Another 220 members of Boko Haram surrendered to the troops of Operation Hadin Kai on March 10. They revealed that the ongoing rivalry between both factions had forced the need for them to escape to safer areas.”
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He stated that since February 27, 2023, Boko Haram had been fleeing their enclaves amidst deadly attacks targeted at the groups in Gaizuwa, Gabchari, Kashimiri, Maimusari in Bama, Yale in Konduga and Magumeri.
“In one of the attacks led by three notorious ISWAP Commanders, comprising Mallam Abubakar Maina, Qaed Malam Dahiru, Qaed Abu Amir in Guzamala, over 200 Boko Haram jihadists, including their women and children were eliminated,” Zagazola stated. “The onslaught against the group continued on the 8th of March 2023, when more than 100 of them were killed in the fringes of Baga, Marte and Dikwa. This time, the terrorists targeted only the men, sparing their families”.
However, the Government of the Republic of Niger through its Public Relations Information Directorate, said that the week was marked by the displacement of several groups of 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 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,” Danmadami said.
