No fewer than 200 members of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) have reportedly been killed in a violent confrontation with Boko Haram insurgents in the Lake Chad region.
The bloody clash, which occurred on Sunday near Dogon Chiku, a border community along the shores of Lake Chad in the North-East, also claimed the lives of at least four Boko Haram fighters.
Counter-insurgency expert and security analyst, Zagazola Makama, disclosed the development in a post on X (formerly Twitter), accompanied by a video showing several bodies of slain fighters floating in a river.
“More bodies of ISWAP members were found after a deadly clash that resulted in the killing of 200 fighters by Boko Haram,” Makama wrote.
Sources familiar with the incident said the confrontation erupted during a renewed struggle for dominance and control of strategic hideouts and resources around the Lake Chad Basin — a long-standing theatre of rivalry between the two terror factions.
Since its formation in 2016 following a split from Boko Haram, ISWAP has engaged in several bloody battles with its parent group over leadership and operational territories.
The North-East region has remained a major flashpoint of insurgent activity for over a decade, with both Boko Haram and ISWAP wreaking havoc on communities, displacing residents, and undermining security operations.
Security analysts say the latest clash underscores the growing internal divisions within the terror networks, even as the Nigerian military continues to intensify counter-terrorism operations across the region.