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ISWAP fighters who fought Shekau, Boko Haram trained in Libya, Somalia – Report

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Boko Haram/ISWAP



Members of the Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP), who raided Sambisa forest in Borno State, attacked members of the Boko Haram terrorist group and allegedly killed their leader, Abubakar Shekau, were trained in guerilla warfare, a report claimed.

WUZUPNIGERIA had, on Wednesday, reported that there were conflicting reports on Shekau’s whereabouts after ISWAP, a breakaway faction of Boko Haram, attacked the insurgents in Sambisa. While some reports claimed the Boko Haram leader killed himself with a grenade, others said he was mortally wounded and in hiding.

However, a new report by Daily Trust claims the ISWAP fighters who confronted Shekau were women and teenagers, aged between 12 and 30 years old.

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The medium added that the ISWAP fighters were said to have been trained in Libya, Somalia and other countries abroad.

Quoting unnamed sources, the paper said some of the fighters are children of deceased ISWAP members, adding that they were carefully selected for the raid.

He said, “Others are youths sourced during raids on multiple islands around the Lake Chad. The ISWAP carefully selected the youths. It was therefore much easier for recruitment as some of the youths willingly joined the group and others were forcefully conscripted.

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“Some of them were born during the wartime and others were very young when their parents joined the group around 2002. After their parents died because of illness or confrontation with Nigerian troops, the children naturally took over and when the group split into two in 2016, those that moved on their own or forcefully taken to the shores of Lake Chad under the umbrella of ISWAP had an upper hand in terms of training because they were taken to Libya for training in guerrilla warfare and other purposes.

“Others were sent to Syria and Somalia… They were taken to many countries abroad for training. However, those that came back especially between March and April this year took active part in confronting Shekau in the last few days. They launched a serious offensive alongside other top commanders and fighters already on ground and they succeeded in taking over.

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Another source said some of the 300 youths were trained as “medical doctors, paramedics, engineers, IT specialists, bomb specialists and mechanics.”

He added that among them were women “who serve as nurses or cooks while others have gun-handling skills, meaning they can partake in combat operations.”

 

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