Nigerian army and Boko Haram fighters have released conflicting details about the recent fight in Malam Fatori leading to public misinformation.
Just as Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman, Acting Director Army Public Relations released an official report of a successful encounter
in the town of Malam Fatori which allegedly led to the death of several insurgents, Boko Haram operatives in collaboration with ISIS have also released a counter report.
According to CBS News, Nigeria Islamic extremists said Tuesday they killed more than 40 troops from a multinational force in an attack on a convoy in northeast Nigeria - the fourth attack in three days following a lull as Nigeria’s home-grown insurgency confronts a leadership struggle.
Analysts are warning that the struggle could lead to more violent attacks that will kill more people in a 7-year-old Islamic uprising started by Boko Haram that has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and spread to neighboring states.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) West Africa Province annihilated “a convoy of the African Coalition Crusader forces” in the town of Malam Fatori, the SITE Intelligence Group reported, translating an ISIS communique posted on social media. There was no way to independently verify the claim.
Tuesday’s was the first Nigeria attack claimed by ISIS since August, when it named a new caliph in Nigeria and provoked a struggle with the longtime leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau.
Shekau pledged Boko Haram’s allegiance to the ISIS in 2015, giving it its first sub-Saharan franchise. ISIS said it replaced Shekau in August, in a dispute that revolved around his indiscriminate killings of Muslims.