Borno: Air strikes kill over 40 ISWAP fighters, destroy vehicles
Military air strikes have reportedly killed more than 40 Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) fighters at Badu village, south of Gudumbali in Borno state.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication, reported that the operation, conducted on October 10, also destroyed two vehicles and about 20 motorcycles belonging to the insurgents.
The strikes reportedly targeted a concentration of ISWAP’s elite Murabitun fighters, who were believed to have been deployed to the area for mobile patrols and surveillance.
“According to the preliminary intelligence report, a prominent Qaid (commander) was among those reportedly killed, while the majority of the casualties were recorded inside and around a building hit during the air operation,” Makama said.
The publication described the Murabitun fighters as an elite mobile patrol unit typically deployed for periods of two to four weeks to carry out opportunistic attacks and provide early warning along the Gudumbali-Kukawa-Gajiram corridor.
It said the fighters were believed to have been operating in the area to prevent Nigerian troops from advancing towards the Lake Chad region.
Makama reported that ISWAP fighters from the Lake Chad area arrived in Badu early on October 11 to evacuate surviving casualties and recover those affected by the air strikes.
According to the publication, sources said the arriving fighters allegedly engaged Fulani herders around the abandoned village.
The reported operation comes amid ongoing military efforts to disrupt insurgent movements and weaken ISWAP’s operational capacity in the Lake Chad region.
