Nigeria Army has confirmed the death of ISWAP leader, Al-Barnawi.
Control TV reports that the Nigeria Army has confirmed that the leader of the Islamic State West Africa Province jihadist group, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, is dead.
READ ALSO: Teenagers Arrested For Alleged Robbery And Murder In Ogun state
Chief of Defence Staff General Lucky Irabor disclosed this to reporters.
He said, “I can authoritatively confirm to you that al-Barnawi is dead. As simple as that. He is dead and remains dead.”
Al-Barnawi is the son of the founder of the Boko Haram militant group, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in police custody in 2009 in Maiduguri.
But the ISWAP commander rose to prominence after breaking away from Boko Haram over differences with its commander Shekau, who according to security sources killed himself in May rather than face capture by his rivals.
READ ALSO: PHOTO STORY: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Fayemi Commissions Ekiti State Civic Center
Since Shekau’s death, security sources say, al-Barnawi had consolidated ISWAP’s control in Nigeria’s northeast and the Lake Chad region but pockets of Boko Haram loyalists have been fighting back.
Since Shekau’s death in his Sambisa forest enclave, ISWAP has been fighting Boko Haram remnants who have refused to pay allegiance.
Hundreds of Boko Haram members have also since surrendered to the army along with families and children.
More than two million people have been displaced by Nigeria’s conflict since it began 2009, and the violence has spread over the borders to Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
©ControlTV2021.
