104 ISWAP Fighters, Families Surrender to Troops

•Air strikes decimate terror commanders, others relocate families

Kingsley Nwezeh

In a major shift in the war against insurgency, signaling an end to the theatre, some 104 fighters of the Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP) and their families, at the weekend, surrendered to troops in Borno State.

This is the first time the ISWAP fighters were surrendering with their families.

Over 15,000 Boko Haram fighters and their families had so far surrendered to troops in the North-east.

ISWAP had launched several attacks on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps and rehabilitation centers for repentant terrorists in order to force them to recant.

But intensified air strikes had forced other ISWAP fighters to relocate family members after four high-ranking commanders of the terrorist group were decimated in Marte, Borno State.

A security source said senior commanders were eliminated during recently coordinated airstrikes targeting the terrorists’ strongholds in Marte Local Government Area of the state.

Fighter jets including super tucano belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) straffed ISWAP camps in the weeklong and sustained aerial attacks.

“Those killed are Amir Abdulrahman of Abbaganaram; Imam Tujja, Imam of Bukar Mairam; Malam Ibrahim, Amir of Jubularam and Bakura Imar, another high ranking ISWAP Commander among several foot soldiers of the terrorist group.

“While some wounded terrorists were evacuated to Kirta Wulgo for Medical attention, we are aware of movements of their women and children towards Buningil, Bakkassi, Doron Liman, and Daban Alfa.

“I am not aware if the vulnerable people especially, the women and children being relocated are going to surrender to the Nigerian troops,” he said.

The Nigerian Army, however, announced the surrender of the ISWAP members on its verified facebook page, where it shared photos of some of the repentant terrorists and their relatives.

According to the army, the former ISWAP fighters surrendered their weapons on Saturday to troops of the 25 Task Force Brigade in Damboa town of Borno State.

A breakdown of the figure showed that 22 of those received by the soldiers were men, 27 were women and the remaining 55 were children. The Director, Defence Media Operations at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, Major General Bernard Onyeuko, confirmed the development.

Although he did not give details of the latest development, the military spokesman said troops in the North East had continued to gain successes over the activities of ISWAP fighters in the region.