No fewer than 41 terrorists including commanders from the Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), were reportedly killed on Wednesday after an infighting that broke out between the terror groups in Borno State, North East region of Nigeria.
Sources said that the ISWAP terrorists who came on several canoes attacked the Bakoura Buduma-led faction of Boko Haram in Duguri axis in Kukawa Local Government Area of the state.
A counter-insurgency expert in the Lake Chad region, Zagazola Makama, who disclosed the information on the rival war between the insurgent groups said that the bloody infighting led to the killing of fighters on both sides amounting to over 41 including some commanders of the groups.
According to Makama, the ISWAP dealt a heavy blow on the Boko Haram terrorists leaving many of their commanders dead.
A source whose identity was not revealed reportedly identified some of the Boko Haram commanders killed during the fight to include Modu Kayi, Abbah Musa, Isa Muhammed, Ibrahim Ali, Kanai Zakariya and Bula Salam, Isuhu Alhaji Umaru, Dogo Salman and Abdulrahman Malam Musa among others.
Recall that rival clashes between Boko Haram and ISWAP have become increasingly frequent and intense, especially in Borno state's Sambisa forest and the Lake Chad region with ISWAP said to be having an upper hand following defection of a former chief of operation of Boko Haram, Abou Idris, who joined ISWAP to fight his former group.