Bokostan

Analyzing Boko Haram, ISWAP, Ansaru & Nigerian/Sahelian security. Author "Unmasking Boko Haram: Exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria" (Lynne Rienner, April 2020).

[Bokostan @BokoWatch]

Thank you, @FreelancerYerwa. Your takes are greatly appreciated and I'm eager to read them; please share! And thank you for the commendation on the book. Means alot coming from you.

[Yerwalancer @FreelancerYerwa]

@BokoWatch This is a well detail and cristal info on exploring Global Jihad in Nigeria, this is worth international recognition, was opportune to go through many chapters and will like to write out my takes.

[Wassim Nasr @SimNasr]

L’Adha de l’EI au Mozambique, Nigeria (x2) et en République démocratique du Congo

[Sahelintel @Sahelintel1]

El eje Sahel-Península Arábiga: Al-Qaeda celebra la "kabulización" de África

[Vincent Foucher @VincentFoucher]

Interesting @humangle piece documenting the killing of an innocent civilian by some "Hybrids" - #BokoHaram defectors recruited by the authorities as auxiliaries in the struggle against jihadists https://t.co/i4Ifb5v6Uh

[Geopolog @Geopolog]

IŠM released photos of their Eid al-Adha celebrations in Mozambique

[maleo @maleo21]

ISWAP has claimed attack on a Christian village✝️ (“Hija”) in Adamawa.
2 militiamen were reportedly killed, and a rifle and a motorcycle seized.

Unable to locate this village but it had already been attacked in June 2023.Following that attack, they certainly formed militiamen.

[Malik Samuel @Sazedek]

ISWAP media operations are back, more than two weeks after the killing of Al-Minuki. In a series of messages, ISWAP today claimed several attacks, some dating back several days. The last attack claimed by ISWAP before now was on the same day Minuki was killed, which also greatly impacted media operations on the Lake Chad islands. Sources claim up to 10 media operators, including 3 senior ones, were killed in the U.S.-Nigeria operation.

With the latest claims, ISWAP seems to be showing a defiant posture.

[Hauwa Shaffii Nuhu @WaasiShaffii]

“For the first time, ISWAP leadership could pass not to the insurgency’s founding generation, but to a second generation of fighters raised entirely within the movement’s war ecosystem.”

https://t.co/Hirlm0PZB2

[Hasret Kargın @KargnHasret]

#Nigeria
The first photo of senior ISWAP commander Abu Bilal al-Minuki, who was killed in a joint U.S.-Nigerian operation on May 16.

[Malik Samuel @Sazedek]

In confirmation of Al-Naba's report on ISSP in Northwest Nigeria, Islamic State has released pictures of seven Nigerian soldiers killed in an attack on the village of 'Rumji Dan Doto' in Sokoto state. It also released images of weapons captured during the attack. This matches the attack in Rumji reported by the media around the same time, which was then attributed to Lakurawa. Two of the latest images also match those released in Al-Naba.

In the Al-Naba announcement, IS had claimed two attacks in Northwest Nigeria, including the 24 March attack in Shanga, Kebbi state, carried out by Lakurawa. ISSP has not released photos from the Shanga attack.

The confirmation of ISSP's presence in northwestern Nigeria adds to the complexity of the conflict in the Northwest, and possibly the Northcentral as well.

[maleo @maleo21]

🇳🇬 Islamic State has released photos of the bodies of several Nigerian soldiers killed in the ambush in Sokoto. The attack is attributed to the Sahel Province.

A photo of the spoils of war has also been released.

[m. u @secmxx]

Iswap Hausa out and radio al buhaira is still active since the US assault on Iswap no 2 in the lake Chad region. al buhaira is operated outside the northeast. Iswap is in a silent mode to avoid heavy Elint surveillance by US forces, isis is also trying to get a clear picture

[Malik Samuel @Sazedek]

It has been quite an interesting last 24 hours regarding the Islamic State’s claimed presence in Northwest Nigeria, particularly in Kebbi and Sokoto states. What stood out to me were the timing of the announcement, the nature of the attack claims, and what appears to be a deliberate mismatch between the images used and the accompanying narration, especially in relation to the Nigerian attacks.

Under normal circumstances, I might have accepted the claims at face value. However, the reference to the 24 March attack in Giro Masa, Shanga LGA of Kebbi State immediately raised questions. Curiously, IS neither used actual images from that attack nor accurately described the incident. I documented that specific attack extensively, including the events leading to it and its aftermath, and I can state unequivocally that it was not carried out by IS.

One thing is abundantly clear from this week’s al-Naba release: IS has been rattled by the US-Nigeria operation and its propaganda machine is in full force.

This week’s editorial also confirms @GGA_org’s latest report that ISWAP’s media infrastructure and operation was likely impacted by the strike:

“According to GGA sources, ISWAP’s media arm was likely impacted by the strike against al-Minuki. While ISWAP maintains media departments in Sambisa, Farouk, and Krenowa, the Buhaira Wilayat’s media team serves as a coordination hub and maintains the communication channel between ISWAP and Amaq, the IS news agency.”

I will be publishing a detailed fact-check and analysis of the IS claims next week.

[Africa Terrorism Tracker @AfricaaTT]

🇲🇱 #Mali: JNIM has released new footage of the April 25 attacks. The footage documents part of their assault on Kati, beginning with a clip of them entering the city.

📌 Geolocation of first clip: (12.782878, -8.109927) https://t.co/p4zCJuTAHt

[James Barnett @jh_barnett]

ISSP now formally claiming attacks in Sokoto and Kebbi in the area where "Lakurawa" has been operating. No surprise. The announcement was bound to come

I maintain some "Lakurawa" activity in Kebbi/Kwara esp. is JNIM, but we must all acknolwedge Nigeria has a two-front IS problem

[Bokostan @BokoWatch]

Reminds me of when Ansaru propaganda revealed Sahelian attire indicating ties Aqim

[maleo @maleo21]

Examples of the typical uniform worn by Sahelian jihadists, which is also found among the “Lakuwaras” in Nigeria.

It is worn by both JNIM and IS-Sahel fighters.

[Brant @BrantPhilip_]

IS-Sahel has claimed for the first time attacks against the Nigerian army in Kebbi and Sokoto states of northwest Nigeria, this confirms my reports for the last few years that the so-called "Lakurawa" is only a front group for the Islamic State, despite many "analysts" and "experts" claiming otherwise.

And just as reported, the Islamic State explains that they were active in NW Nigeria for a long time previously, but refrained from claiming these attacks until now for operational security reasons.

A quote from the IS statement:

"The Nigerian tyrant should now try to collect the bodies of his soldiers from Borno in the east to Sokoto in the west, and see whether the American planes will avail them anything, or will they increase their suffering, God willing"

[Wassim Nasr @SimNasr]

#Nigeria Islamic State Sahel province (ISSP) closes the « Lakurawa debate » by claiming officially its for the first time attacks in Sokoto & Kebbe.

[maleo @maleo21]

For the first time, Islamic State Sahel Province has claimed attacks in Nigeria.

These two attacks took place in Sokoto and Kebbi and reportedly killed 18 soldiers and a policeman

“These attacks are not the first [...] but others were not announced for security reasons.”

[Wassim Nasr @SimNasr]

Dans son éditorial l’EI évoque l’ops héliportée US au Nigeria sans nommer les lieux ni Abou Bilal « ils ont fait une descente dans les forêts africaines contre un seul homme qu’ils ont surveillé 6 mois durant […] contre un jeune bureau de média dans la brousse »

[Brant @BrantPhilip_]

The Islamic State/ISWAP announces the "martyrdom" of parts of their media team following the US Special Force operation against their headquarters near the Lake Chad in northeast Nigeria about two weeks ago.

Translation of the statement:

"And ponder, O servants of Allah, what prompted crusader America to cross all these distances all the way to these forests, and a squadron of its warplanes to fly to execute a massive multi-point airborne landing; with large forces and heavy gunfire, trying to capture a single Muslim man (likely referring to Abu-Bilal al-Mainuki here) in the jungles of Africa, whom they tracked for six months with all types of drones, even at the height of their preoccupation with the Iranian war, while others among the claimants of Tawheed (monotheism) lounge on their beds and behind their screens, safe, luxurious, and bloated, thus Tawheed elevates some peoples and lowers others.

Then answer us, by Allah, what drives America to land its planes and the elite of its forces and a crowd of its clients and rabble, to attack a newly established media headquarters in the middle of the forests that has no satellite channel or networks, so the knights of eloquence and spears should rise to fight a heroic battle where they did not surrender to their enemy and did not compromise their religion, so they were killed one after another as strangers for the sake of God, and they were purer than the water of heaven, advancing with high resolve, overflowing with sacrifice, with a soldierly conduct and great manners that you rarely find a match for in this age of recklessness, memorizers of the Book of Allah despite their non-Arab background, yet they surpassed the Arabs in recitation and memorization, rather in application and compliance, so they established its letters and its boundaries until they were killed under the shade of its verses in the peak of their preoccupation with one of its missions, so they mastered Tawheed with their souls, and their words drank from their blood, may the abundant mercy of Allah Almighty be upon them.

And how many nights they stayed awake and connected them with their days, and worked under complex conditions that, if major international media agencies, which swim in a vast sea of capabilities and spend their time analyzing their letters and words, were to look into them; if they and others looked into the conditions of this unique media elite, they would take off their hats to them in admiration and reverence."