Boko Haram’s Islamic State-backed faction has claimed to have executed five Nigerian soldiers but security sources told AFP on Tuesday three of those killed were civilian militia members. The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) video, dated April 1 and said to have been filmed in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, was published online by the IS propaganda arm Amaq. It showed two men in military fatigues and three in red-orange jumpsuits reminiscent of those worn by IS hostages in Syria and Iraq. All five are shot in the head at point-blank range.
Nigerian Army spokesman Sagir Musa said only that he had seen the video. But three senior security sources said at least three of the five were not soldiers. “We have identified three of them as CJTF (Civilian Joint Taskforce) who were held by ISWAP in Baga in December,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity.
The CJTF assists the military with security. ISWAP attacked military bases in and around Baga, on the shores of Lake Chad, in northern Borno, in December last year. The sources said the militia members were trying to flee with civilians when they were detained. All three had been presumed dead.
“The first three from the right are known to us by name… We are still working to establish the identity of the other two,” said one source. “What is surprising is that one of them in military uniform was arrested in his civilian clothing and now he was given some military uniform to make him look like a soldier.”
The video comes as Nigerian and regional forces have intensified their activities against ISWAP in northern Borno, particularly around the towns of Monguno and Marte. The Nigerian Army and the Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJFT) comprising troops from Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger both claim to have inflicted heavy losses.following the launch of Operation Yancin Tafki on February 21.
Over the weekend, troops deployed with Operation Yancin Tafki were conducting clearance operation in the Kerenoa – likely meaning Kirenowa – area when “contact was made with Boko Haram Terrorists at Andakar Camp,” Colonel Timothy Antigha, the MNJTF’s Chief of Military Public Information, said in the Sunday, March 31 release that included graphic images of dead bodies.
A firefight followed and 16 militants including Malloum Moussa, who Antigha described as “a high ranking Boko Haram Commander,” were “neutralized,” a term commonly used to mean killed by security forces.
Five technicals were destroyed and one woman “whose relationship with the terrorists is yet to be determined” was detained. Antigha said Moussa had “jurisdiction” over the southern Lake Chad area including around Daban Masara, Kirta Wulgo and Koleram, and that he was “notorious for imposing hefty levies on farmers, fishermen and cattle herders.”
In February, the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, vowed that the Nigerian military will break the unholy alliance between the Boko Haram terrorists and Islamic State West Africa or ISWA. Buratai, a lieutenant-general, maintained that the army was making gains in the counter-insurgency operations in the North-east.
“I am glad to note that we are making strides against the Islamic State West Africa or ISWA in our bid to unhinge the unholy union between them and remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists,” he said.
