Nov. 7 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Nigerian security forces have killed two senior members of the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) jihadist group in a series of bombings carried out on Saturday in the Lake Chad basin, on the border with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Security sources quoted by the news portal PR News, which has ties to the Nigerian Army, have detailed that the dead are Ali Kwaya and Bukar Mainoka, considered members of the ISWA Shura Council.
The attack would have been carried out in the town of Belowa, one of the jihadist group’s strongholds in the area, after the Nigerian authorities obtained intelligence information about the presence of senior members of the group at a meeting in the area .
“An hour after the bombing, two vehicles carrying thirteen wounded terrorists to another hideout were hit by precision bombing by the Nigerian Air Force,” these sources have detailed.
Thus, they have highlighted that the air strikes came just one day after similar bombings on Friday in Ngwuei Gana, east of Maiduguri, the capital of the state of Borno (northeast), within the framework of operations against ISWA in this area of the country. African.
“The information indicates that the bombing reached its objective, given that numerous terrorists were neutralized and their structures and vehicles were set on fire,” they said, without giving specific details about casualties in the ranks of the jihadist group.
For his part, the Nigerian Air Force spokesman, Edward Gabkwet, confirmed the bombings without commenting on the identities of the dead and stressed that “the path to victory in the northeast and northwest continues.” “We will not rest until all areas are free of terrorists and insurgents”, he has riveted.
ISWA emerged as a split from Boko Haram after the leader of the latter group, Abubakar Shekau, swore allegiance in 2015 to the then leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, after which he was removed from office to appoint another leader, which which led to the split of the group and the emergence of ISWA.
The attacks in Nigeria, previously focused on the northeast of the country – where Boko Haram and ISWA operate – have spread in recent months to other areas of the north and northwest, raising alarms about the possible expansion of these networks. terrorists and criminals.
