Shekau’s Boko Haram Group, Barnawi Camp Clash

Local Editor

In-fighting has broken out in Boko Haram after the Takfiri Daesh [Arabic acronym for "ISIS" / "ISIL"] group announced a new leader of its Nigerian affiliate, according to reports in the country's remote northeast.

Daesh said last month that Abu Musab al-Barnawi, the son of Boko Haram's founder Mohammed Yusuf, had replaced Abubakar Shekau at the head of the designated terrorist organization.

But Shekau then insisted he was still in charge of the Takfiri group, whose insurgency had killed at least 20,000 people since 2009 and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes.

Sources in northeast Nigeria now say there had been deadly skirmishes between the two factions, even as Nigeria's military seeks to finally rout the militants in a sustained counter-offensive.

Last Thursday, several fighters from Shekau's camp were said to have been killed in two separate gun battles with Daesh-backed Barnawi gunmen in the Monguno area of Borno state near Lake Chad.

Nigeria's military declined to comment on the reported in-fighting when contacted by AFP.

The Bloomberg news agency also carried reports of the skirmishes, which appear to have occurred late last week. News can take time to travel in Nigeria's war-ravaged northeastern region, where up to 2.5 million people had been displaced from their homes and most basic infrastructure like telecommunications lines had been destroyed.

Ali Mohammed, a member of an army-supporting vigilante group based in Monguno, told Bloomberg around 18 Boko Haram fighters were understood to have surrendered to the army, along with their families, following the in-fighting.

"They are under custody of Monguno command and we believe the dual battle between Barnawi's and Shekau's camps may have compelled them to sneak out and surrender," he said.

Despite all its recent setbacks, Boko Haram continues to pose a serious threat to the region.

Yesterday a Reuters reporter who rode along with the Nigerian army reported soldiers firing indiscriminately into the bush throughout the journey, because of a constant fear of ambush.

The army has reclaimed a number of key towns in Borno state since former military leader Muhammadu Buhari became president last year and the military moved its base of operations to the northeast city of Maiduguri.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team