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Nigeria Says It Killed an ISWAP Shura Council Member as Troops Repelled a Kukawa Base Attack

Defence Mena cover: Nigeria Kukawa ISWAP attack — Defence Mena cover image.

Nigeria’s military says its troops repelled a large ISWAP attack on their positions in Kukawa, Borno State, on the evening of Saturday 31 October, and killed a member of the group’s Shura Council, a senior commander and two foreign fighters in the fighting. The account comes from the military alone. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) has not commented, and the claims have not been independently verified.

It was at least the third attack on a military position in northeast Nigeria in three days, after overnight assaults on Bitta in Borno and an army training school at Buni Yadi in Yobe on 29 and 30 October.

What the military says happened in Kukawa

The statement was issued on Sunday 1 November by Captain Mohammed Goni, acting media information officer of the Joint Task Force (North East), Operation Hadin Kai, and carried by Channels Television, Punch, Leadership and TRT Afrika. According to it:

ISWAP fighters launched a “massive” attack on troop locations in Kukawa Local Government Area late on 31 October.
Troops held their positions with ground forces backed by aircraft from the operation’s Air Component.
Among those killed, the military named Abu Hajara, described as a high-profile member of ISWAP’s Shura Council, and Abul Walid, described as a prominent commander and close associate of Ba Shuwa, whom it calls ISWAP’s overall wali (leader). It said two “high-ranking Arab fighters” and several other militants were also killed.
Troops recovered weapons, ammunition and communication devices.

The statement gave no total for militants killed and did not say whether any soldiers were killed or wounded. It did not name the two foreign fighters or give their nationalities.

A second Shura Council claim in two weeks

This is the second time this month that Nigeria’s armed forces have said they killed a member of ISWAP’s Shura Council, its leadership council. On 19 October the Nigerian Air Force said a strike in the Lake Chad area killed a Shura member and a guard of an ISWAP figure called Abu Saleem; Operation Hadin Kai later gave a partly different account of that strike. Neither claim has been confirmed by ISWAP or by independent sources, and the military has not published evidence identifying the dead.

Kukawa, Buni Yadi and Bitta

Kukawa has been hit before. On 6 October ISWAP attacked a 101 Special Forces Battalion position in Kukawa. The military said then that more than 25 attackers were killed and admitted unspecified losses; a senior officer told AP that 10 soldiers died.

On the night of 29 to 30 October, fighters attacked a troop position at Bitta in Gwoza, Borno, and the North East Theatre Training School at Buni Yadi in Yobe. In its statement on Friday 30 October the military said a five-hour counter-offensive at Buni Yadi killed 48 fighters, that one soldier was killed and two lightly wounded, and that troops recovered 52 firearms, Reuters, Xinhua and Channels Television reported.

Sunday’s Kukawa statement refers back to Buni Yadi with a different number, saying 55 terrorists were “neutralised” there, including commanders it named as Ali Mandara Abba Gajiri (Munzir), Habu Ikkima Nakif Yana Faruk and Commander Gogore, Punch reported. The military did not explain why the toll rose from 48 to 55. Both figures come from the military, and neither has been independently verified.

The wider picture

The Kukawa fight continues a run of ISWAP pressure on bases around Lake Chad and in Borno this month. In mid-October fighters overran a Nigerian base at Mairari, and days later a landmine killed eight soldiers near Gamboru. The military has answered with air strikes such as the one it says killed 40 ISWAP fighters at Badu, and its statements increasingly name the leaders it says were killed.

Kill counts and leadership claims in this conflict are hard to check. Journalists rarely reach the sites, bodies are not counted independently, and figures have been disputed before. The Kukawa claims should be read as the Nigerian military’s account until ISWAP’s own channels or independent sources say otherwise.

What is still unknown

How many attackers took part and how many were killed in total.
Whether Nigerian troops suffered casualties in Kukawa.
Independent confirmation of the deaths of Abu Hajara, Abul Walid and the two foreign fighters.
Why the Buni Yadi toll was revised from 48 to 55.

Sources

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